Pope Francis arrives at Tokyo’s Haneda airport at the start of his Apostolic Journey to Japan, following the path Pope St John Paul II trod 38 years ago.
It’s a well-known fact that Pope Francis has harbored an ardent desire to become a missionary to Japan ever since he was a young man.
“Over time, I felt the desire to go as a missionary to Japan, where the Jesuits have always carried out a very important work,” he was quoted as saying in the book “El Jesuita”, published in 2010.
Fr Jorge Bergoglio requested an assignment to the East Asian nation as a young Jesuit in Argentina.
Today he made that dream became a reality.
Missionary to Japan
Pope Francis arrived at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport on Saturday evening, becoming the second Pope to visit Japan.
His predecessor, Pope St John Paul II, came here in 1981, and left a lasting mark on the local Catholic Church.
That visit helped change the way Japanese people viewed the Church’s role in society. The Polish Pope visited Hiroshima, Nagasaki, and both Tokyo Dome and Sophia University during his historic visit.
Pope to Japanese bishops: witness to the Gospel and protect life
Hardly an hour after his arrival in Tokyo from Bangkok, Thailand, on the second leg of his 2-nation 32nd Apostolic Journey, Pope Francis met the bishops of Japan, Saturday evening, at the Apostolic Nunciature in the capital.
Recalling that the motto of his Japan visit is “Protect All Life”, he suggested ways of how to witness to the faith and serve life.
Great witnesses to the faith
The Pope disclosed his fondness for Japan saying how as a young Jesuit in his native Argentina, he yearned to be a missionary in their land. But today, a dream long come true, he said, he was among them as a missionary pilgrim in the footsteps of great witnesses to the faith, such as Saint Francis Xavier whose arrival there 470 years ago marked the beginning of the spread of Christianity in the country.
The Pope also mentioned the martyrs, Saint Paul Miki and his companions, Blessed Justo Takayama Ukon and the “hidden Christians” who, amidst trials and persecutions, kept the faith alive for generations, as authentic domestic Churches like the Holy Family of Nazareth.
Protecting life, proclaiming the Gospel
The Holy Father commended the Church in Japan, saying the DNA of their communities is marked by a witness to the Lord in daily life, which he said is an antidote against despair, that points out the path they must follow.
According to the Pope, protecting all life means, first of all, having a contemplative gaze capable of loving the life of the entire people entrusted to you, and recognizing it, above all, as the Lord’s gift. Only that which is loved, he said, can be saved and only that which is embraced can be transformed.
Protecting all life and proclaiming the Gospel, he pointed out, are not separate or opposed; rather each appeals to, and requires, the other. “Both entail being careful and vigilant about anything that could hinder, in these lands, the integral development of the people entrusted to the light of the Gospel of Jesus,” the Pope said.
A Church of witness, dialogue
Shintoists and Buddhists form the bulk of Japan’s some 126.7 million people, with Catholics forming a tiny minority of 0.42%. This, the Pope said, must not diminish the Church’s commitment to evangelization through a humble, daily witness and openness to dialogue with other religious traditions.
In this regard, he expressed appreciation for the Church’s hospitality and care to many foreign workers, which he said is not only a witness to the Gospel within Japanese society, but also attest to the universality of the Church.
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