Hong Kong and Macau bishops reflect on synodality and hope during ad limina visit

Vatican News

The bishops of Hong Kong and Macau have spoken of gratitude, missionary renewal, and the lived experience of synodality during their ad limina Apostolorum visit to Rome, describing their encounter with Pope Leo XIV and Vatican dicasteries as a moment of deep communion with the universal Church.

Their reflections come as both dioceses mark significant anniversaries: the Diocese of Macau celebrates 450 years since its foundation, while Hong Kong commemorates the 80th anniversary of its elevation to a diocese.

Synodality

Cardinal Stephen Chow Sau-yan, Bishop of Hong Kong, reflected on the visit through the lens of synodality, highlighting the mutual listening that took place during the bishops' meeting with Pope Leo XIV.

The Cardinal noted that the bishops presented the Holy Father with a scroll bearing the Chinese translation of synodality used in Hong Kong and Macau: gong yi tong xing.

“The first two words mean conversing together, discussing together, discerning together,” he explained. “The last two words are walking together, journeying together. So I think that gives a full picture of what synodality is.”

For Cardinal Chow, the encounter with the Pope embodied precisely that understanding of the synodal process. “We are here and really have a chance to share our experience with the Holy Father,” he said, noting that “he's a great listener.”

“He listens, and it's important that he has this opportunity to listen to us, and we have the opportunity to share with him,” the Cardinal said.

Such listening, he explained, serves the Church's discernment and mission. “This way he can make better discernment in leading the Church,” he said, particularly regarding matters concerning the Church in China.

At the same time, the bishops were able to listen to the Pope's own hopes and concerns. “For us to listen to him, his concern, his aspiration, and what maybe he wants to clarify, more clarification from us,” Cardinal Chow said.

Drawing on the experience of Hong Kong and Macau and their longstanding contacts with mainland China, the Cardinal stressed the importance of sharing perspectives and experiences with the Holy Father. “We can share with him our experience, our perceptions, our understanding,” he said. “And I think that was important for us.”

Summing up the spirit of the encounter, Cardinal Chow added simply: “That's synodality.”

The bishops from Macau and Hong Kong during the interview at Vatican News

The theme of renewal

For Bishop Stephen Lee Bun-sang of Macau, the anniversary year is rooted in thanksgiving and renewed missionary commitment. “Renewal is part of the theme of our celebration of the 450 years,” he said, explaining that the first dimension of the jubilee is gratitude for the generations of missionaries who carried the Gospel from Macau across Asia.

“Four hundred and fifty years is a long time, and we have to give thanks to God for having given us so much grace through the footsteps of the missionaries,” he said. “So many of them have sacrificed their life to spread the Gospel from Macau and then to many parts of the world in the Far East area.”

Recalling the diocesan theme, Bishop Lee noted that the faithful are invited, “through the 450 years, to see the merciful face of God.”

“We can, through the missionaries, really feel the mercy of God through the graces that He granted to us,” he said, pointing to the witness of those who left Macau to proclaim the Gospel. At the same time, he stressed that the celebration is not simply a remembrance of the past.

“We don't stay only in the memory of the beautiful past and the meaningful past, but to use it to go forward, to renew ourselves,” he said.

That renewal, he explained, is directed toward missionary discipleship for all the faithful.

“Everybody, including the recently baptised Catholics, should have that missionary spirit, the zeal to spread the Gospel and then to move forward again with the merciful grace of God,” he said. “This is how we can renew ourselves not only in our sanctity but also in the apostolic zeal to spread the Gospel.”

A message of hope

A similar emphasis on mission and hope emerged in the reflections of Bishop Joseph Ha Chi-shing, Auxiliary Bishop of Hong Kong. The Diocese of Hong Kong is celebrating the 80th anniversary of its elevation to diocesan status under the theme of hope.

“The theme of our celebration is a message of hope,” Bishop Ha said. “We received the Gospel, which brings us hope, from the missionaries. But we also have the task, have the responsibility, to pass it on.”

Reflecting on the significance of the ad limina pilgrimage, he described it as “a very particular meaning, a very precious moment for us.”

Through meetings with Vatican dicasteries and their audience with Pope Leo XIV, the bishops experienced what he called a profound sense of belonging to the universal Church.

“It gives us this taste, this connect, being connected with the universal Church,” he said. “Being in communion with the whole community, of the whole flock of Christ.” That experience, he added, strengthens the local Church in its mission.

“It assures us that we are part of the Church and so it brings us, it encourages us to carry on, to pass it on, this hope from the Gospel.”

Looking to the future, Bishop Ha underlined the responsibility entrusted to today's Catholics. “We ourselves have to become missionaries for the generations to come in Hong Kong and elsewhere,” he said, describing the visit as “really a plan of God for us.