Bangkok, Thailand, Nov 21, 2019 / 21:21 pm
In a meeting with priests and religious in Thailand Friday, Pope Francis urged an inculturation of the Gospel which allows it to have a "Thai face and flesh," and not be seen as a religion only for foreigners.
"Let us not be afraid to continue inculturating the Gospel," he said Nov. 22 in St. Peter Parish in the district of Sam Phran to the west of Bangkok.
"We need to seek new ways of transmitting the word, ways that are capable of mobilizing and awakening a desire to know the Lord," he said, adding that he was saddened to learn that for many people in Thailand, Christianity is "a foreign faith, a religion for foreigners."
"This should spur us to find ways to confess the faith 'in dialect,' like a mother who sings lullabies to her child," he urged. "With that same intimacy, let us give faith a Thai face and flesh."