Pope Francis would meet Myanmar’s top Buddhist monks, its
military generals and civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi in November. According
to a full programme of the Nov. 6 to Dec. 2 trip released by the Vatican, the
pope would save two Masses in Buddhist-majority Myanmar and one in Bangladesh,
which is predominantly Muslim.
Francis would be
the first pope to visit Myanmar and the second to visit Bangladesh, where Pope
John Paul visited in 1986.The pope arrives in Yangon, the country’s largest
city, on Nov. 27 after a flight of more than 10 hours and is scheduled to rest
for about 24 hours before heading to the country’s capital Naypyitaw for a day.
There, he would have separate private talks with President Htin Kyaw and Suu
Kyi, who is both State Counsellor and Foreign Minister, making her effectively
the country’s civilian leader.
A senior Vatican
official said military leaders are expected to attend a separate, public
meeting where the pope would address politicians and diplomats. This is where
he is expected to give the keynote speech of the trip. Myanmar is facing
international scrutiny over the plight of its Rohingya community. In February,
Francis said they had been tortured and killed simply because they wanted to
live their culture and Muslim faith.
August 2016, some
hard-line Buddhists were riled with the pope spoke about “the persecution of
our Rohingya brothers and sisters’’ and asked Catholics to pray for them,
adding that they should be given “their full rights’’. On Nov. 29, the pope
would address the Sangha Maha Nayaka, the country’s highest Buddhist authority,
which is a government-backed panel of senior monks responsible for regulating
the Buddhist clergy. The United Nations refugee agency said that Bangladesh
border guards reported more than 11,000 Rohingya refugees crossing into their
country from Myanmar.
The government
offensive has drawn international condemnation and UN accusations of ethnic
cleansing, which the government denies. There are about 700,000 Roman Catholics
in Myanmar according to the country’s cardinal, Charles Maung Bo, out of a
population of about 51.4 million. Catholics make up a tiny minority in
Bangladesh. Francis would be the second pope to visit that country, after Pope
John Paul in 1986. (Reuters/NAN)
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