Cardinal Ignatius Suharyo of Jakarta said the Vatican’s formal recognition of Bahasa Indonesia in Vatican News could help bring Indonesia’s dynamic Catholic experience to a global audience and amplify Asia’s voice within the universal Church.
Speaking during a meeting with the Indonesian Catholic Journalists Association, or PWKI, on May 4 at the Jakarta Archdiocese residence, Suharyo said the agreement opens new opportunities to share Indonesia’s long-standing synodal practices, interfaith engagement, and grassroots Church life with the wider world.
The cardinal described the use of Bahasa Indonesia by Vatican media as “important and strategic” from the perspectives of international diplomacy and the development of the Indonesian Church.
“The life of the Indonesian Catholic Church is very advanced, its dynamism is very alive, but the weakness is that the information is not widely spread,” Suharyo said.
“That is why, for me personally, what is most hoped for is how inspiring stories about the Church in Indonesia can be widely shared and understood by the international community,” he said.
The memorandum of understanding allowing the official use of Bahasa Indonesia in Vatican News was signed on March 25 between the Vatican Dicastery for Communication and the Social Communications Commission of the Indonesian Bishops’ Conference. Representatives of PWKI attended the signing at the Vatican after helping push the initiative since 2022.
Suharyo said the agreement could help overcome long-standing communication barriers that prevented many stories from Indonesia from reaching international audiences.
“Many positive stories from Indonesia could not previously be communicated internationally. Hopefully now there is an entry point,” he said. “After this MoU, it is hoped that many positive stories about Indonesia can be spread throughout the world.”
The cardinal also argued that many themes now central to Vatican discussions on synodality have long been practiced in Indonesia.
“What will be discussed later has actually been done here 20 years ago. The theme of walking together, for example, we have been doing from the beginning, as if it were something new,” he said, referring to synod discussions in Rome.
“We have had parish councils for many years, there are neighborhood leaders and regional leaders. That is walking together. A bishop never makes decisions alone. They are entrusted to the parishes,” he added.
Suharyo said ideas later articulated in Gaudium et Spes during the Second Vatican Council had already been expressed in Indonesia by Fr. Albertus Soegijapranata as early as 1934, but “it was not widely reported.”
He also pointed to a 1974 Dutch-language article titled Kring: Toward Another Church, saying it reflected how the Indonesian Church had already developed a pastoral orientation distinct from many European churches at the time.
“Therefore, the Indonesian Church is very advanced both in its thinking and in its practices,” Suharyo said. “What the synod discussed for one month, we in Indonesia have already implemented. Unfortunately, information about it did not reach outside.”
At the same time, the cardinal acknowledged the financial and operational challenges of sustaining Indonesian-language Catholic media. He recalled how the Indonesian-language service of Radio Veritas in the Philippines was eventually discontinued because of rising costs.
“The challenge is like that, it is not easy,” he said.
PWKI chairperson Asni Ovier said the association would continue supporting the implementation of the agreement, noting that the group had initiated and actively accompanied the process leading to the signing of the memorandum.
“We realize that later the Social Communications Commission of the Indonesian Bishops’ Conference will have the authority in its implementation,” Ovier said. “Our responsibility is to provide input to the commission, and it is hoped that everything will run smoothly and bring hope for the nation, the country, and the Indonesian Catholic Church.”
Ovier said future Indonesian-language Vatican News coverage would focus on peace, tolerance, harmony, interreligious relations, humanity, and diversity.
