✣ Archbishop: I’d go to jail over confessional seal

What happened? In a long-expected announcement, the Vatican has confirmed that Pope Francis will visit Burma and Bangladesh this autumn. Francis will arrive in Burma (the first pope to do so) on November 27, then go to Bangladesh from November 30 to December 2. The visit has immediately become politicised, especially around the issue of the Rohingya, a 1.1 mill­ion-strong Muslim minority group. On Sunday the Pope denounced “the persecution of our Rohingya brothers and sisters”. What Australian media are saying The New York Times noted that “hard-line Buddhist nationalists” have already begun claiming that the Pope is misinformed. The paper quoted Ashin Wirathu, an ultra-nationalist Buddhist monk, as saying: “There is no Rohingya ethnic group in our country, but the Pope believes they are originally from here. That’s false.” According to Wirathu and others, the Rohingya are from Bangladesh – though, as the Times said, “Rohingya families have lived in the country for generations.” The Guardian observed that the Rohingya question had “emerged as the biggest challenge for national leader Aung San Suu Kyi”. Suu Kyi, a former winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, has “been accused by some Western critics of not speaking out” for the “long-persecuted” minority. What Catholics are saying Human rights activist and Catholic convert Benedict Rogers told the New York Times: “The Pope, as a world religious and spiritual leader, has the potential to speak well in this situation.” He could win the trust of both Buddhist nationalists and members of the Rohingya community, Rogers said. But he added: “There is a potential for a negative action from groups like [Buddhist nationalists] Ma Ba Tha. And what scale that will be really remains to be seen.” Catholic website cruxnow.com quoted Mark Farmaner, the director of Burma Campaign UK, as saying that Burmese Christians in the cities “generally face little prejudice”, but “in ethnic areas” they are sometimes “refused permission to build churches or crosses and can have buildings torn down by authorities”.