Asian News

As voters in the Bangsamoro, an autonomous region in the southern Philippines, prepare to elect members of the Bangsamoro Parliament on September 14, the bishop of the Prelature of Isabela in Basilan has urged candidates, voters and political leaders to protect the peace achieved after decades of conflict.

Twenty-three theology students preparing for ordination to the diaconate have received formation in ecumenical ministry, equipping them to promote Christian unity and build relationships with Christians of other traditions in their future pastoral service.

Catholic digital communicators from across Asia were commissioned as digital missionaries during a Mass on September 13 that concluded the first Asian Catholic Digital Missionary Assembly, with a call to make the digital world a place of listening, encounter, reconciliation and communion.

Eight candidates of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Annecy (SJA) are undertaking a pastoral immersion across Catholic communities in Kandhamal, eastern India, to deepen their understanding of faith, community life and religious service among people who have experienced poverty, social challenges and persecution.

Malaysian Catholics were urged to embrace renewal, deepen their faith and journey together under the guidance of the Holy Spirit as the Malaysian Pastoral Convention 2026 (MPC2026) concluded in Sibu, a city in Sarawak on the island of Borneo, with a call to become a more missionary Church.

The Pakistan National Commission for Justice and Peace (NCJP) hosted its annual Peace Festival on September 10, 2026, at the Renewal Center in Lahore, opening with a solemn Eucharistic celebration presided over by Bishop Samson Shukardin, Chairman of NCJP and President of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Pakistan (CBCP), concelebrated with around six other priests.

Religious formators and members in initial formation gathered in western India for a seminar organized by the Conference of Religious India (CRI), Goa and Daman, to reflect on how abiding in Christ can shape religious formation, community life and mission in a changing Asian context.

Digital evangelization cannot be reduced to producing content or increasing online engagement; it must help build communion and relationships, according to Dr. Natasha Govekar, Director of the Theological-Pastoral Department within the Vatican Dicastery for Communication.

A new office for the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences Office of Social Communications (FABC-OSC) was blessed on September 12 at the Radio Veritas Asia (RVA) campus in Quezon City, Philippines, providing a new base for the Office’s communications ministry across Asia.

For Fr. John Toai, communication begins not with gaining followers but with giving himself to people through concrete encounters.

The organizers of World Youth Day (WYD) Seoul 2027 are calling on Asian digital missionaries to help bring the event’s message to millions of young people who may not be able to travel to South Korea.

Catholic children from schools across the Diocese of Islamabad-Rawalpindi gathered September 11 at St. Mary’s Academy for Girls in Lalazar, Rawalpindi, a city near Pakistan’s capital Islamabad, for the diocese’s annual Holy Childhood Program.

Radio Veritas Asia (RVA) plans to bring 40 digital influencers to the 2027 World Youth Day in Seoul, South Korea, envisioning them as “40 pairs of eyes” that will capture the experiences of young people and communities and share them with Catholics across Asia, said Fr. John Mi Shen, RVA program director.

A grand reception and prayer service for the National Youth Cross was held with the participation of young people at the historic Holy Cross Parish in Luxmibazar, Old Dhaka, on September 9.

Catholic digital missionaries from across Asia reflected on the dangers of losing sight of their mission, the need to move from self-promotion to serving others, and the importance of keeping humanity at the center of artificial intelligence during three case-study discussions on September 11 in Quezon City, Philippines.

South Korea’s highly connected digital society presents Catholic evangelization with both new opportunities and new challenges, including the need to balance advanced technology with human contact, according to a veteran journalist and communication scholar.

Catholic digital missionaries need to begin with people and their lived experiences, listening to them before deciding what to say or how to minister to them, a media officer from the Holy Land said.

Catholic digital missionaries should use online platforms to tell stories rooted in the lives, cultures and experiences of local communities, a Philippine priest and media executive said.

India’s extraordinary linguistic, cultural and regional diversity requires the Catholic Church to develop new digital ways of connecting communities, especially through content in local languages, Father Cyril Victor Joseph, a communication expert and national Catholic media official, said.

The digital sphere has become a new mission territory for the Church, requiring Christians to bring the Gospel into a rapidly changing environment with discernment, critical thinking and a strong sense of community, Archbishop Rex Andrew Alarcon said.