In an interview with the Fides news agency, Father Agustinus Purnama, a 70-year-old Indonesian priest and Superior General of the Missionaries of the Holy Family (MSF) in the province of Java, considers legitimate the expectations of young Indonesians, who are leading the current wave of rebellion spreading across different regions of the archipelago. They demand transparency, work, development, good politics, and a future. “The problem is that they are being exploited for other purposes”, concludes Father Purnama, who is nearing the end of his six-year term as Superior (2019-2025).

On the occasion of the World Missionary Jubilee, Italian Father Claudio Corti, a missionary with the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions (PIME) in Thailand, spoke to the Fides news agency. He expressed his astonishment at the number of people who have recently converted to Catholicism and requested baptism. In this predominantly Buddhist country, where Christians are clearly in the minority, it is not uncommon to hear about Jesus Christ… Whether because one attended a Christian school, or met a Catholic coworker or friend, or because one was impressed by the imposing churches during a trip abroad, “especially in Europe.” And when one of these people approaches Father Corti – who has lived in Thailand since 1999 – asking if he can convert them to Christianity and baptize them, the prelate notes that “they take their faith very seriously.” The decision to convert to Catholicism radically changes one’s life. For example, “the experience of forgiveness, which one receives from God and offers to one’s enemy, is an extraordinary moment. And from that moment on, this person begins to live not only for themselves, but for their fellow human beings.”