✣ Pope embarks on tricky trip to Asia
What happened? In one of the most diplomatically complex trips in recent papal history, Pope Francis has visited Burma, becoming the first pontiff to do so. After landing on Monday, he met the country’s military chief, General Min Aung Hlaing. The military has been accused of serious human rights abuses against Rohingya Muslims. Francis was also scheduled to meet the under-pressure State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi, before going to Bangladesh on Thursday. What commmentators are saying Coverage was dominated by one question: would the Pope say the word “Rohingya”? In the New York Times, Jason Horowitz observed that the Rohingya were “exactly the sort of persecuted and downtrodden people in the global periphery whose rights Francis has made it his pastoral mission to champion”. But it is a “no-win scenario”: if he uses the word, it could provoke nationalists whose willingness to use violence is already clear. “If the Pope appears to take sides with the Rohingya, he risks angering extremist monks who have warned the Pope to steer clear.” CNN’s Ben Westcott noted: “The Pope is also expected to push for greater rights for the several million members of Myanmar’s Christian minority.” What local Catholics are saying Catholics are wary of a possible backlash. The Guardian’s Poppy MacPherson quoted one priest as saying: “Like other people, I’m afraid of what he will say … I don’t think he will say anything.” A spokesman for the Myanmar bishops also hoped that the Pope would not utter the word “Rohingya”. “The desire of the majority, maybe not only the Catholics but also all the citizens of Myanmar, is for him not to say this thing because we know the complexity of this issue.” The first people to greet the Pope in Yangon were delighted. “I saw the Pope, he was sitting in the front of the car. I was so pleased, I cried!” Christina Aye Aye Sein, 48, told the news agency AFP. “His face looked very lovely and sweet … He is coming here for peace.”
