Pope holds landmark mass in Myanmar

YANgoN: A sea of worshippers crowded into a football field in Yangon for an open-air mass by Pope Francis, who is making the first ever papal visit to Myanmar, in a trip that has been framed so far by his public sidestepping of the Rohingya crisis.

Ranks of Myanmar nuns in habits sang in Latin, backed by organ music as Francis delivered a homily urging compassion yesterday, opening his speech with minglabar, Burmese for “hello”.

“I can see that the Church here is alive,” he said of a Catholic community numbering around 700,000 – a tiny fraction of the country’s 51 million population, most of whom are Buddhists.

Earlier Francis smiled and waved as he snaked through the estimated 150,000 faithful in his “popemobile”, many of the worshippers holding Myanmar flags and wearing colourful clothes from the coun- try’s myriad ethnic groups.

“I never dreamed I would see him (the Pope) in my lifetime,” said Meo, an 81-year-old from the Akha minority in Shan state.

Like many others at the mass, she is from one of Myanmar’s conflict-riddled borderlands, and travelled far to reach the commercial capital for the landmark visit.

“This is the most Catholics I have ever seen,” added Gregory Than Zaw, 40, an ethnic Karen, who made the five-hour bus journey to Yangon with 90 people from his village.

The pope was set to hold a meeting with Buddhist leaders yesterday, on a visit that has also been heavily political as well as religious.

Francis has held private talks with both civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi and the powerful army chief Min Aung Hlaing.

The pontiff arrived on Monday in a country on the defensive after an outcry from the international community over the plight of its unwanted Rohingya Muslim population, who have been driven to Bangladesh in huge numbers.

The pope avoided mentioning the crisis – or the Rohingya – directly in a speech in the country’s capital on Tuesday, calling simply for “respect for rights and justice”.

There have been Catholics in Myanmar for over 500 years and they generally enjoy good relations with the Buddhist majority.

I never dreamed I would see him (the Pope) in my lifetime. Meo