“We have much to learn from you! Despite being a minority in many of your countries or regions, you do not let yourselves be disheartened or corrupted by an inferiority complex or the complaint that you are not given due recognition”, Pope Francis said, paying tribute to the Bishops of Thailand as he addressed them. “You know well what it means to be a small church, with few people and means, but passionate and eager to be a living instrument of the Lord’s care for all the people of your towns and villages”, Pope Francis continued: “Your efforts to bring forth the fruitfulness of the Gospel, by proclaiming the kerygma with works and words in the different areas where Christians are, is a witness that leaves a mark”. “It is not us who organise the mission, let alone our strategies”, the Pope warned. “The pastor is a person who, first of all, deeply loves his people, knows his peculiarities, his weaknesses and his strengths”, Pope Francis explained. “The mission – he added – is certainly love for Christ, but at the same time it is passion for His people. Let us remember that we too are part of this people; we were chosen to be servants, not masters or lords. This means that we must accompany those whom we serve with patience and kindness, listening to them, respecting their dignity, and always encouraging and promoting their apostolic initiatives”. “Many of your lands were evangelised by lay people”, the Holy Father concluded: “They had a chance to speak the dialect of their people, a simple and straightforward exercise of inculturation, neither theoretical nor ideological, but the fruit of the passion to share Christ. God’s faithful and holy People have the anointing of the Holy One that we are called to recognise, appreciate and proclaim. Let us not lose this grace, the grace of seeing God who acts in the midst of His people: as He did before, does now, and will continue to do”. Having bid farewell to the Catholic Bishops, after the group photo, the Pope went to the nearby Shrine’s conference hall where he privately met with the members of the Society of Jesus in Thailand. He then returned by car to the Apostolic Nunciature in Bangkok.