The Catholic Church in Indonesia is set to convene its Fifth National Assembly (Sidang Agung Gereja Katolik Indonesia or SAGKI) from November 3 to 7, 2025, in North Jakarta, reaffirming its call to “walk together as pilgrims of hope” and strengthen its mission of peace and dialogue.
With the theme “Walking Together as Pilgrims of Hope: Becoming a Synodal and Missionary Church for Peace,” SAGKI 2025 will renew the Church’s commitment to live as a communion of faith, hope, and love.
“SAGKI 2025 seeks to renew the Church’s commitment to live as a communion of faith, hope, and love, and to strengthen its missionary spirit in promoting peace and dialogue,” said Bishop Antonius Subianto Bunjamin, OSC, president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Indonesia (KWI), during a press briefing in Jakarta.
National gathering of communion and renewal
SAGKI is one of the most significant ecclesial events in the Indonesian Church, held every five years to bring together bishops, priests, religious men and women, and lay representatives to listen, discern, and set the Church’s pastoral direction.
First organized in 2000, the assembly was postponed in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The 2025 edition will gather 374 participants from 38 territorial dioceses and the Military and Police Ordinariate.
“Total number of participants is 374 people, including 38 active bishops and 4 retired ones,” Bishop Bunjamin told reporters. Each diocese, he said, will send eight representatives.
A church that walks together
The assembly’s theme highlights the Church’s vision of being a pilgrim community that journeys together — both internally, among its members, and externally, in dialogue and collaboration with people of other faiths and cultures.
“Walking together means living in solidarity, subsidiarity, mutual respect, and service. In this spirit of communion, the Church is called to proclaim God’s love, promote justice, and build peace amid a rapidly changing world,” Bishop Bunjamin said.
He added that this “synodal journey” challenges the Church to confront Indonesia’s most pressing issues, including environmental degradation, corruption, social inequality, intolerance, violence, and gender injustice — “by walking together in discernment and action.”
When asked whether topics such as the situation in Papua would be discussed, Bishop Bunjamin noted: “It all depends on the diocese’s deliberation as each participant has the same right in common to speak up.”
Call for hope and peace
SAGKI 2025 draws inspiration from Pope Leo XIV’s first Urbi et Orbi message on May 8, 2025, in which he greeted the world with the words, “Peace be with you all.” The pontiff reminded the Church that the world longs for peace and that it must not remain indifferent.
“We must find ways to be a missionary Church,” Pope Leo said, “a Church that builds bridges and dialogue, open like this square, with outstretched hands to all who seek mercy, presence, and love.”
The assembly also reflects the spirit of Pope Francis’ apostolic bull Spes non Confundit (Hope Does Not Disappoint), which inaugurates the Ordinary Jubilee of 2025.
The Pope teaches that hope, nourished by faith and expressed in love, sustains humanity amid trials. Quoting Saint Augustine, he writes: “Whatever our situation in life, we cannot live without faith, hope, and love.”
Goals and Pastoral Vision
According to KWI, the assembly will focus on four key goals:
- Strengthening communion between the hierarchy and the laity;
- Fostering the Church as a community of hope with a missionary spirit;
- Enhancing the Church’s relevance and commitment in promoting peace; and
- Discerning and setting the pastoral direction of the Catholic Church in Indonesia for the next five years.
The program will include sharing sessions from various groups — youth, elders, persons with disabilities, environmental advocates, and leaders of other religions — whose testimonies of “walking together” are expected to enrich the Church’s collective discernment and deepen its call to be a listening and serving Church.
Unity in diversity
In embracing the national spirit of Bhinneka Tunggal Ika (Unity in Diversity), SAGKI 2025 also reflects the Church’s commitment to Indonesia’s broader journey toward justice, harmony, and peace.
Through this assembly, the Church leaders in Indonesia said it will reaffirm its vocation “to be a pilgrim community of faith and hope, walking together with all people of goodwill, and bearing witness to the coming of God’s Kingdom in this land.”
