Pope urges Thais not to see Christianity as 'foreign' - SABC News - Breaking news, special reports, world, business, sport coverage of all South African current events. Africa's news leader.

Pope Francis waves to the crowd following his visit to St. Peter's Parish church in the Sam Phran district of Nakhon Pathom Province, Thailand

The son of Christian converts from Buddhism, he was arrested for ringing a church bell during a period dominated by an anti-Western government suspicious of foreign influences, such as the French colonial powers in neighboring countries. In 1940, seven Catholics, including three teenage girls, were killed by Thai police in the northeastern province of Nakhon Phanom. Pope John Paul II later declared them martyrs.

Although missionaries failed to achieve mass conversions, they were largely tolerated by the Buddhist majority and particularly the royal court.Since the start of his pontificate in 2013, Francis has preached that the Church should grow by attraction and not by proselytizing, or conversion campaigns.

He added, “Let us give faith a Thai face and flesh, which involves much more than making translations.”

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