Pope to Asia's Church: Be builders of communion

July 11, 2026 · 1 min read

In a Letter to Cardinal Oswald Gracias, his Special Envoy to the 12th Plenary Assembly of the Federation of Asian Bishops' Conferences (FABC), to be held in Jakarta from 20 to 26 July, Pope Leo XIV urges the Church in Asia to place God "on the horizon of our actions and the human person at the center of our decisions," without fearing "to get our hands dirty at the building site of our time."

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Source: Vatican News · Read the full story →

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Тетяна Кравченко

It is interesting that the Pope emphasized the "human person at the center of decisions". In our parish in Poltava, we also often say that without this, no "construction" will be possible - whether it is a church or simply relationships between people. But "not being afraid to get your hands dirty" is already closer to our daily life, when you help someone in reality, and not just with words.

Xenia Bennett

Our parish council in Sydney was just talking about the same thing last week while we were painting the hall — you can’t build anything worthwhile if the person in front of you isn’t the centre of the decision. The “get our hands dirty” line feels very real when you’re scrubbing old paint off your fingers at 9 pm.

Іван Коваленко

Tatiana, it's good that in Poltava the parish emphasizes this - without a person in the center, everything really falls apart. Here in the Kyiv region, after fishing, we often talk about how to "get our hands dirty" in practice: to chop firewood for the neighbor's grandmother, to play chess with the children, so that it's not just words. And you in Poltava, how exactly do you implement this in the parish, is there any example from the last year?

James Campbell

That’s the kind of hands-on work that makes the words stick, isn’t it? We had a similar chat in our parish council here in Ottawa while we were sorting out the church garden beds last month — you quickly realise the person holding the shovel matters more than the neat plan on paper. Did the painting session turn out better than you expected?

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