Pope Francis on Friday urged Thailand’s Catholic community to promote their faith in the predominately Buddhist country.
Speaking to the Catholic community of St Peter’s Parish, around 50 kilometres west of Bangkok, Francis said Thai Catholics need to seek new ways of transmitting the word, ways that are capable of mobilising and awakening a desire to know the lord.
“As I prepared for this meeting, I read, with some pain, that for many people Christianity is a foreign faith, a religion for foreigners.
“Like a mother who sings lullabies to her child – with that same intimacy, let us give faith a Thai face and flesh, which involves much more than making translations.’’
Francis has held a stadium Mass and met with the country’s king, prime minister, and Buddhist leader since his arrival in Bangkok on Wednesday.
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In his speech to the Thai government and people, Francis touched on humanitarian issues such as migration, prostitution and human trafficking.
Francis will depart for Japan on Saturday, where he will meet the Japanese emperor and prime minister.
He is the first pope to visit Thailand and Japan since Pope John Paul II visited the two countries in the 1980s.
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