Pope appeals to Buddhist clergy to overcome ‘prejudice and hatred’
YANGON: Pope Francis called on Myanmar’s top Buddhist monks to conquer ‘prejudice and hatred’ in a country ravaged by communal divisions, after holding the nation’s first- ever papal mass attended by 150,000 Catholics yesterday.
The pontiff’s four-day visit has so far been marked by his avoidance in public of the crisis in northern Rakhine state and Myanmar’s treatment of its Rohingya Muslim community.
Francis has previously spoken out strongly in defence of the Muslim group, whom the UN and US say are victims of an ethnic cleansing campaign by Myanmar’s military that has driven 620,000 of them into Bangladesh since late August.
“If we are to be united, as is our purpose, we need to surmount all forms of misunderstanding, intolerance, prejudice and hatred,” the pope told the orange-robed monks of Myanmar’s highest Buddhist body, called the Sangha Maha Nayka.
Radical monks have played a key role in fanning Islamaphobia in Myanmar and hardening attitudes towards the Rohingya.
In recent months the Sangha has moved to rein them in, especially in banning sermons by Wirathu – a monk whose vitriolic rants were widely disseminated via social media.
Welcoming the pope Sangha chairman, Kumarabhivamsa, who oversees Myanmar’s estimated 600,000 monks, expressed sadness at “extremism and terrorism” conducted in the name of religion. — AFP