MANILA, Oct. 22, 2012?Pope Benedict XVI has appointed Archbishop-emeritus of Manila, Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales as his special envoy to the 10th plenary assembly of Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences (FABC) set to take place at the Xuan Loc Diocese Pastoral Centre in Vietnam on November 19 until 25 of this year.
Archbishop-emeritus Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales (Noli Yamsuan/RCAM)
Held every four years, this year’s gathering will mark the 40th anniversary of FABC, the top body of the Catholic Church in Asia.
The November assembly will gather around 100 participants consisting of presidents of bishops’ conferences, theologians and other church leaders.
From the Philippines, delegates will be headed by CBCP President Archbishop Jose Palma of Cebu.
Going with Palma are six other prelates who were elected during the CBCP’s regular meeting last July in Manila: Archbishops Socrates Villegas of Lingayen-Dagupan and Antonio J. Ledesma of Cagayan De Oro, Bishops Mylo Hubert Vergara of Pasig, Crispin Varquez of Borongan, Leonardo Medroso of Tagbilaran, and Emmanuel Cabajar of Pagadian.
Themed “FABC at Forty Years – Responding to the Challenges of Asia: The New Evangelization”, participants will discuss the ways of “living the spirit of renewal and the vision of evangelization in Asia.”
The working document for the assembly invites the delegates to discern how the Church can spread the Gospel values in Asia impacted by dynamics triggered by globalization, cultural diversity, poverty and other factors.
They will also try to take account of concerns such as migrants and refugees, indigenous peoples, population, religious freedom, threats to life, social communications, ecology, laity, women, youth, Pentecostalism and vocations.
FABC has 15 bishops’ conference members – Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Japan, Kazakhstan, Korea, Laos-Cambodia, Malaysia-Singapore-Brunei, Myanmar, Pakistan, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam.
It also has 10 associate members – Hong Kong, Macau, Mongolia, Nepal, Kyrgyzstan, Siberia (Russia), Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and East Timor. (CBCPNews)
