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Cardinal Oswald Gracias has high hopes for the Church, especially in Asia, noting “a certain self-confidence” that has gradually emerged among the continent’s bishops. In an exclusive interview with Crux Now, Gracias says the leaders of the Church in Asia have “a new awareness, a deeper consciousness of who we are and what we can offer to the universal Church.” The Archbishop-emeritus of Bombay (Mumbai ) and past president and secretary-general of the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences (FABC), has seen a good bit of history. He hasn’t just seen it. Gracias has been a part of it – even an architect of it – as he became the leader of the Church in India’s financial capital in 2006 and received the red hat from Pope Benedict XVI in the following year. Gracias was already an established hand when Pope Francis appointed him to the “C9” Council of Cardinal Advisors in 2013. Now 81, Gracias remains active as an “elder statesman” of the Church, as evidenced by Pope Leo XIV’s choice of him as special envoy to the FABC Plenary Assembly, which opens next week in Jakarta, Indonesia. More than 120 Church leaders from across Asia will gather from July 20 to 26 for the 12th FABC Plenary Assembly, to discuss Synodal Conversion and the Mission to Be Bridges and Bridge-Builders in Asia. The theme of the Assembly is inspired by a line from the first chapter of the Gospel according to St. John: “You Will See Greater Things.” Below, please find the full transcript of Crux Now’s conversation with Cardinal Oswald Gracias, edited for clarity. Crux Now: Your Eminence, in the first place, congratulations on being the Papal Envoy to the FABC plenary. Cardinal Oswald Gracias: What a surprise! It truly came as a surprise to me. I am deeply grateful to His Holiness, Pope Leo, for the confidence he has shown in entrusting me with this mission. It is a privilege to represent him at the FABC Plenary Assembly, and I receive this appointment with gratitude, humility, and a renewed sense of responsibility. The theme is synodal conversion and the mission to be bridges, specifically in Asia – something that has been a constant theme for you throughout your life in ministry – but, let’s start with ‘synodal conversion’: What is it, Your Eminence? Gracias: You know, when we speak of synodal conversion, we are talking about a change of mentality—a conversion to a truly synodal way of thinking, acting, and being Church. It is about helping all of us embrace this way of life and encouraging others to do the same. Synodality means walking together. It means listening to one another, consulting one another, discerning together, and ensuring that everyone participates in the Church’s mission according to the gifts God has given them. It is about building a Church that is truly a communion—a family of faith and fellowship that journeys together. That, for me, is what synodal conversion really means. It is not simply a new program or a different structure. It is an inner renewal that shapes the way we relate to one another, make decisions together, and carry forward the mission that Christ has entrusted to His Church. Looking back over these decades – during which you’ve served from the FABC’s early years, as one of its secretaries-general and later as its president – how have you seen the Federation evolve and how has it grown in responding to the challenges and changing realities facing the Church in Asia and the world today? You know, it has been a beautiful and grace-filled journey. I think that, over the years, a certain self-confidence has gradually emerged among the bishops of Asia – a new awareness, a deeper consciousness of who we are and what we can offer to the universal Church. For many years, we tended to feel that we did not have very much to contribute. We saw ourselves primarily as those who were listening, learning, and receiving from the wider Church. And that was a good and necessary experience. We were – and we continue to be – learners, because the Church is always called to listen, to grow, and to be enriched by the wisdom of others. At the same time, however, we have also come to recognize that Asia has its own gifts to share. We are not only recipients of the Church’s life and mission; we are also participants and contributors. The journey of the FABC has helped us rediscover with greater confidence the richness that God has placed within our continent and within our local Churches. But I have always felt that Asia has something very important to offer. When you look at our continent, you see an extraordinary richness: the richness of our cultures, the diversity of our peoples, the presence of so many great religious traditions, and the experience of communities living together in dialogue despite their differences. These are not simply realities that we live with; they are gifts that can enrich the whole Church. They represent an experience and a wisdom that Asia can share with the universal Church. I think there is now a much greater awareness of this wealth of Asia. In a special way, that began to emerge during the pontificate of Pope Francis. He would often ask me about the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences—about the FABC, what we were doing, how we were thinking, the directions we were taking. As I shared these with him, he came to appreciate the vision and work of the FABC. That appreciation, I believe, also had an important effect on us. It gave the bishops of Asia greater confidence in what we were doing. We began to see more clearly that the FABC was not simply responding to the life of the universal Church but also making a genuine contribution to it – through our theological reflection, our pastoral experience, our commitment to dialogue, and the witness of the Churches of Asia. Today, I think we have a stronger sense that Asia is not only a recipient within the Church but also a contributor. We have our own gift to offer, and we are more confident now in sharing that gift with the universal Church. Then came the conference we held in Bangkok in 2022. That was a landmark moment for us. It was the first time we had gathered in that way, and I believe it marked a real breakthrough for the FABC. We had the largest gathering of bishops in our history, and we spent three weeks together – not simply attending meetings, but praying, reflecting on the life of the Church in Asia, discussing our challenges and opportunities, and discerning our pastoral priorities for the future. It was a profound experience of listening to one another and to the Holy Spirit. One of the priorities that emerged very clearly from that assembly was the call to build bridges—and, even more, to become bridges ourselves. That vision has stayed with us, and it is one of the central themes we have taken up again in this present assembly. We believe that the Church in Asia is called to be a bridge: a bridge between peoples, cultures, religions, and nations; a bridge of dialogue, reconciliation, and hope. Looking back, I can see how much the FABC has grown. There has been growth in participation, growth in interest, growth in confidence, and growth in our contribution to the universal Church. The bishops of Asia increasingly recognize that our shared reflection and experience have something meaningful to offer the wider Church. I have also noticed that, at meetings of the universal Church, the FABC is now regularly invited to share its perspective and its experience. That was not always the case. Today, there is a genuine appreciation that the voice of Asia has an important place in the life of the Church. I see that as a sign of maturity—not only for the FABC, but also for the universal Church, which is increasingly open to receiving the gifts that the local Churches have to offer one another. Your Eminence, these cultural challenges we see too – to evangelization, especially in Asia, in the, in the ‘Global South’ as we say – and we wonder: How do the changes in society affect the evangelization that the FABC plans to carry out? Yes, I think the changes we are witnessing in society present both challenges and opportunities for evangelization. At the same time, they have also helped us to rediscover many of the strengths that are deeply rooted in our Asian cultures. We have begun to appreciate more consciously the values that are part of our heritage: our respect for elders, the importance we give to family life, our sense of community, and the deeply religious spirit that is present among our peoples. These are not incidental qualities; they are real resources for the life and mission of the Church. Asia is also unique because it is home to so many of the world’s great religious traditions. That is both our challenge and our richness. Living in such a context teaches us that we can also learn from one another. We see the different ways in which people approach God, the reverence they bring to prayer and worship, and the many ways faith becomes incarnate within different cultures. This is what the Second Vatican Council encouraged us to recognize: religion is not simply a private reality. It should transform the human person, and transformed persons, in turn, transform society. That remains our mission. Our religious diversity is not something to be feared but a gift to be engaged with. It creates a spiritual atmosphere in which genuine dialogue becomes possible, and that is one of Asia’s greatest contributions. I also believe that the spirit of synodality is something we should not keep only within the Church. It has a much wider significance. The culture of listening, of walking together, of respecting one another, and of discerning the common good can enrich society itself. It is something we can share with people of other faiths—with our Hindu, Muslim, Parsi, Buddhist, and other brothers and sisters. Synodality is, in many ways, about learning to live and work together as one human family. In the long run, I believe this has the potential to transform society. It strengthens participation, responsibility, and mutual respect. In a sense, these are also the deepest values that democracy seeks to promote, but democracy flourishes only when people truly listen to one another and participate responsibly. Without that spirit, its institutions alone are not enough. So, yes. There are many challenges before us, but every challenge also contains an opportunity. The task of the Church is to recognize those opportunities, to respond to them with faith and creativity, and to transform today’s challenges into new paths for evangelization and for the service of society. Pope Francis made you a member of his “C9” Council of Cardinal Advisors, so you were closely involved with his most important major reform projects: How do you now find Pope Leo’s style of leadership in practical terms and how is FABC adapting to the changes? That is a very interesting question. Naturally, at the beginning everyone was asking what the differences would be. People wondered whether Pope Leo would fully embrace synodality and continue the path that Pope Francis had set before the Church. I think he answered that question very clearly from the very beginning. He made it evident that synodality remains one of the priorities of his pontificate. I had had the opportunity to work a little with Pope Leo even before his election, not extensively but enough for us to know one another. We met on several occasions in connection with projects initiated during Pope Francis’s pontificate, and I also had the opportunity to consult with him. So, in that sense, we were not strangers. We had already shared conversations on important matters concerning the life and mission of the Church. What has struck me most is the remarkable continuity between the two pontificates. The transition from Pope Francis to Pope Leo has been, in my view, extraordinarily seamless. It has reinforced my conviction that the Church is guided not simply by human planning but by the Holy Spirit. Sometimes people expect a new pope to represent a dramatic change of direction, almost as though one era ends and another begins in opposition to it, but that is not how I see it. Rather, I see the Holy Spirit gently leading the Church along the same path, while raising up different leaders to serve that mission according to their own gifts. Pope Leo has his own personality, just as Pope Francis had his. Their styles are different, their backgrounds are different, and each brings his own experiences to the Petrine ministry. Pope Francis had his unique pastoral style and missionary vision. Pope Leo, on the other hand, brings the rich experience of having served as Superior General of his religious order and of exercising leadership at the universal level. Those experiences have prepared him well for the responsibilities he now carries. So there are differences of temperament and style, but the fundamental direction remains the same. The priorities continue to be those that have shaped the Church since the Second Vatican Council: synodality, walking together as the People of God, the ongoing renewal of the Church, and a special concern for those on the margins, especially migrants, refugees, and the poor. Even in his recent teaching, Pope Leo has echoed Pope Francis’s insistence that we should not be afraid to “dirty our hands” in serving people. Pope Francis often used that expression, urging us not to remain distant from the realities of human suffering. Hearing Pope Leo speak in a similar way shows that this pastoral vision continues. For me, this continuity is deeply consoling. It reminds us that the Church is not driven by the personalities of individual popes, important though they are. Ultimately, it is God who guides His Church through the Holy Spirit. The popes are His servants and His instruments, each bringing his own gifts, but all participating in the same mission. That is why I see this transition not as a rupture, but as a beautiful continuity in the life of the Church. How about the FABC? How has the Federation grown and adapted through the years and how are you facing the future? Yes, I have great hopes for Asia and for the FABC. One of my deepest desires is that the FABC will continue to play a leading role—not only within Asia but also in the life of the universal Church. Over the years, we have developed a distinctive way of reflecting on the Church’s mission in our continent, and I believe that experience has something valuable to offer the whole Church. During this assembly, representatives from the other continental episcopal conferences will also be with us. I see this as a providential opportunity. In fact, I hope we can meet together while we are here and begin a deeper conversation about the role of the continental conferences themselves. One of the questions that has occupied my mind for some time is precisely the theology of the continental episcopal conferences. What is their ecclesiological significance? What is their proper role in the life and mission of the Church? How can they strengthen one another, work more closely together, and become a more effective expression of the Church’s communion? We have continental bodies – the FABC, the conferences of Africa, Latin America, Europe, North America, and Oceania – how can we network more effectively? How can we learn from one another’s experiences, and what responsibilities or authority should these continental structures exercise? These are important questions, and I believe they deserve deeper theological reflection. In fact, Pope Francis had asked me to study the whole question of episcopal conferences and their role within the Church. I hope this gathering will provide an opportunity to continue that reflection and perhaps take it a step further. The world today is changing with extraordinary speed. Distances have become smaller because of rapid communication. Social media, artificial intelligence, and new technologies are transforming societies, in ways we could scarcely have imagined a generation ago. These developments certainly bring new and complex challenges, but they also create new possibilities for collaboration, dialogue, and finding solutions together. That is why I remain hopeful. Throughout history, every age has brought its own challenges, but God has always given the Church the Grace needed respond. I have always believed that God never places a burden upon His people without also giving them the strength to carry it. If we remain open to the guidance of the Holy Spirit and walk together in faith, I am confident that the Church in Asia – and the universal Church – will continue to find new ways of fulfilling its mission in our changing world.

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