Archbishop Comensoli: 'Asia is the future of the Church'

By Linda Bordoni and Deborah Castellano Lubov

Archbishop Peter Comensoli of Melbourne, Australia, spoke to Vatican News' Linda Bordoni at the interreligious event in Jakarta, Indonesia, where Pope Francis is making his 45th Apostolic Journey abroad.

On the third day of his Apostolic Journey to Asia and Oceania on Thursday, 5 September, the Holy Father participated in the event at the Istiqlal Mosque, which is southeast Asia’s largest mosque.

Welcoming him was the Grand Imam, Dr. Nasaruddin Umar. Together they also visited the “Tunnel of Friendship,” which provides an underground walkway connecting the Istiqlal Mosque with the Catholic Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Assumption from it with a three-lane highway in between.

They also signed the the Joint Declaration of Istiqlal 2024, underscoring that the values common to all religious traditions be effectively promoted to “defeat the culture of violence and indifference” and promote reconciliation and peace.

In the interview, Archbishop Comensoli highlighted the importance of fraternity between adherents to different religions.

Q: Archbishop Comensoli, you are here following the interreligious meeting at the Istiqlal Mosque. How important is this event for this region and for the world?

Obviously, in our situation, there have been difficulties between the communities of faith that have spread out into violence in history, but that has been worked on significantly over these last 15 or so years.

Australia had some experience of that with a bombing that took place in Bali in 2012, and that was a result of extreme terrorism in a sense.

But, as I understand it, here in Indonesia today, the relationships between the Christians and the Muslims are quite healthy, and it's lovely to hear of this bridge that now exists between this mosque that we're in and the cathedral, the Catholic cathedral, across the road.

So there are signs of what the Pope talked about yesterday in terms of being open in fraternity to one another.

Q: The Pope is signing a joint declaration with the Grand Imam of this mosque. It's actually the biggest mosque in southeast Asia. Do you hope that this message will be conveyed to the world? How significant is this gesture in itself?

I think it is very important. A bit like what happened in Abu Dhabi a number of years ago. This also is a gesture, a sign. But signs need to be moved into realities. And so hopefully this is a way that can start to build those bridges. 

It's important in other places, too, not just what is happening here in Asia, but this will be important for us in Australia as well, where we have a large Muslim community now and a large Jewish community. 

The relationship between all of those at the moment are fraught, very difficult. So finding ways like this might be to open up possibilities.

Q: Do you think that the Indonesian model of democracy and tolerance could become a model for peace and harmony and cohabitation?

I heard yesterday of the great slogan, if you like, of the Catholic Church here: '100% Indonesian, 100% Catholic.' And I thought that was kind of a good thing.

The Indonesians are so diverse, you know, each island... there are indigenous peoples, languages, customs, and so on.

So, it is really important that there might be ways in which Indonesia can come together. It then becomes something of a model for the other countries around Southeast Asia.

Q: Finally, are Australians following this Journey because it's very close by?

Yes, yes, they are. So, we think of ourselves these days as looking more to Asia, rather than to the old European or North American [continents].

Asia is our future. And even in the local Church in Australia, the faces of our congregations in Melbourne, for instance, are becoming more and more Asian.

[There are] a lot of Filipinos, a lot of Indonesians, of Vietnamese, of Koreans, of Indians. That reveals something about the flavour for the Church in Australia.

And we are coming to understand what those cultural expressions of the Catholic faith can bring to our circumstances.