Pope Francis yesterday arrived on a visit to Myanmar and Bangladesh to encourage their tiny Catholic communities and reach out to some of Asia’s most peripheral and poor, but the big question looming was whether he would utter the word “Rohingya” while he is there.
Francis immediately dove into the Rohingya Muslim crisis by meeting yesterday evening with Myanmar’s powerful military leader, General Min Aung Hlaing, and three officials from the bureau of special operations.
The general is in charge of the security operations in Rakhine State, where a military crackdown against the Muslim minority has sent more than 620,000 Rohingya fleeing into neighboring Bangladesh.
Photo: AP / L’Osservatore Romano
Vatican spokesman Greg Burke did not provide details of the private, 15-minute meeting at the archbishop’s residence, other than to say: “They spoke of the great responsibility of the authorities of the country in this moment of transition.”
Rohingya in recent months have been subject to what the UN has said is a campaign of “textbook ethnic cleansing” by the Burmese military in Rakhine.
However, Myanmar’s local Catholic Church has publicly urged Francis to avoid using the term “Rohingya,” because it is shunned by many locally because the ethnic group is not a recognized minority in the country.
Francis, though, has already prayed for “our Rohingya brothers and sisters,” and any decision to avoid the term could be viewed as a capitulation to Myanmar’s military and a stain on his legacy of standing up for the most oppressed and marginalized of society, no matter how impolitic.
Burke did not say if Francis used the term in his meeting with the general, which ended with an exchange of gifts: Francis gave him a medallion of the trip, while the general gave the pope a harp in the shape of a boat and an ornate rice bowl.
Upon arrival in Yangon, the pope was greeted by local Catholic officials and his motorcade passed by thousands of Myanmar’s Catholics, who lined the roads, wearing traditional attire and playing music.
Children greeted him as he drove in a simple blue sedan, chanting “Viva il papa” (“Long live the pope”) and waving small plastic Burmese and Holy See flags.
Posters wishing Francis “a heartiest of welcome” lined the route into town.
En route from Rome, Francis greeted journalists on the plane and apologized for the expected heat, which was 32oC upon his arrival and is expected to rise during his stay.
Today, Francis is to begin the main protocol portion of his weeklong trip, meeting with Burmese State Councilor Aung San Suu Kyi and delivering a speech to other Burmese authorities and diplomats.
He is to greet a delegation of Rohingya Muslims and meet with Bangladesh’s political and religious leadership in Dhaka.
Masses for the Catholic faithful and meetings with the local church hierarchy round out the itinerary in each country.
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