"his actual words could be a powerful force in defeating the ecumenical and syncretistic heresy in Asia"
Pope John Paul has strongly and repeatedly endorsed the "spirit of Assisi" as “an invitation to dialogue between the great monotheistic religions in the service of the human family”.
What happened to the urgent need for infidels and idolaters to return to the "one, true Church"?
That refers to the establishment of temporal peace.
What happened to the urgent need for infidels and idolaters to return to the "one, true Church"?
My direct contact with peoples who do not know Christ has convinced me even more of the urgency of missionary activity, [italics in original] a subject to which I am devoting the present encyclical ... Missionary activity specifically directed "to the nations" (ad gentes) appears to be waning, and this tendency is certainly not in line with the directives of the Council and of subsequent statements of the Magisterium. Difficulties both internal and external have weakened the Church's missionary thrust toward non-Christians, a fact which must arouse concern among all who believe in Christ. For in the Church's history, missionary drive has always been a sign of vitality, just as its lessening is a sign of a crisis of faith. (JP II, Redemptoris Missio, 1-2)The Church therefore cannot forgo her missionary activity among the peoples of the world. It is the primary task of the missio ad gentes to announce that it is in Christ, "the Way, and the Truth, and the Life" (Jn 14:6), that people find salvation. Interreligious dialogue "cannot simply replace proclamation, but remains oriented towards proclamation". (JP II, Novo Millenio Ineunte, 40)
Blessed with the gift of faith, the Church, after two thousand years, continues to go out to meet the peoples of the world in order to share with them the Good News of Jesus Christ. She is a community aflame with missionary zeal to make Jesus known, loved and followed ... At the same time the participants in the Special Assembly testified over and over again to the need for a renewed commitment to the proclamation of Jesus Christ precisely on the continent which saw the beginning of that proclamation two thousand years ago. The words of the Apostle Paul become still more pointed, given the many people on that continent who have never encountered the person of Jesus in any clear and conscious way: "Everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved. But how are they to call upon him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without a preacher?" (Rom 10:13-14).