By Rock Ronald Rozario
(21 November 2025) — About 800 delegates from more than 30 countries will gather in Penang, Malaysia, next week for one of Asia’s largest international Catholic assemblies, with lay participants making up two-thirds of those attending.
According to the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences – Office of Evangelization (FABC-OE), which is organizing the event, laypeople, including 75 nuns, will form 525 of the 773 officially registered delegates for the Nov. 27–30 event called “The Great Pilgrimage of Hope”
Clerics, including cardinals, archbishops, and bishops, account for 262 participants, or less than one-third of the total of about 900 participants, including the local organizing team and volunteers.
India, Malaysia, and the Philippines will send the largest delegations, together contributing 390 delegates, more than half the total.
India, home to about 20 million Catholics, has 122 registered participants; the Philippines, with roughly 90 million Catholics, has 128; Malaysia, the host country, will send 144.
A Church observer said the distribution “is not surprising at all, considering the realities,” noting that India and the Philippines alone account for 110 million of Asia’s roughly 120 million Catholics.
The gathering is hosted by the Diocese of Penang, in collaboration with the Bishops’ Conference of Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei, the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, and the Pontifical Mission Societies.
Delegates from South Asia include Bhutan (4), Nepal (3), Bangladesh (13), Pakistan (10), and Sri Lanka (9).
Participants from East Asia come from China (3), Japan (22), South Korea (28), Hong Kong (28), Taiwan (30), and Macau (3), with no registered delegates from Mongolia.
Southeast Asia will be represented by Thailand (34), Vietnam (30), Singapore (32), Indonesia (31), Myanmar (32), Brunei (3), and Laos and Cambodia (23).
Nine Catholics will attend from Central Asia including four from Mongolia, and 20 from outside the region.
“We aim to welcome delegates from all walks of life, with a particular focus on strong lay participation — including youth and women,” said Manoj Sunny, executive secretary of FABC-OE.
Organizers say the four-day program will reflect on the Church’s mission in a rapidly changing Asian context and seek to “form and inspire pilgrims of hope” for communities across the region.
The event will emphasize dialogue, peace-building, and pastoral outreach amid Asia’s cultural diversity and social challenges.
The Penang gathering is the second Asian Mission Congress, following the inaugural event in Chiang Mai, Thailand, in 2006, which focused on strengthening missionary identity among Asian Catholics.
