Pope seeks to strike careful balance in visit to Myanmar
YANGON, Myanmar — Pope Francis on Monday landed in Myanmar — and a diplomatic minefield.
In his first visit to both the country and a majority-Buddhist nation, the pope will seek to strike a careful balance by maintaining his moral authority without endangering his tiny local flock in a political climate made hazardous by the military’s popular persecution of Rohingya Muslims.
The United Nations, the United States and others have denounced the murder, rape and pillaging of the Rohingya in western Myanmar as ethnic cleansing, but the pope has been advised by the Roman Catholic Church here not to say their name, for fear of aggravating the situation or of being exploited for domestic politics.
In a last-minute change of plans, Pope Francis moved up a meeting with Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, the military’s leader, to Monday evening at the archbishop’s residence, where the pope is staying. Pope Francis is scheduled to meet Tuesday with Aung San Suu Kyi, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate and de facto leader of the government.
Many consider Ms. Suu Kyi complicit for her silence in the face of the slaughter, but the pope’s allies have urged him to lend his support — and, they hope, political strength — as the country’s best chance to prevent a backslide into absolute military rule.
The country’s constitution, written by the military, puts the armed forces out of Ms. Suu Kyi’s control. And the military has enough support in Parliament to prevent any changes that could loosen the grip on power held by Gen. Hlaing, who has ambitions to run the country.
So for Pope Francis, the first meeting may be the more important.
“It’s smart to meet the commander in chief first, because he is very important and the principal person to solve this challenge facing our country,” said Yan Myo Thein, a political analyst in Yangon, Myanmar’s main city.
According to the Vatican, the meeting with Gen. Hlaing and top commanders from the Bureau of Special Operations lasted about 15 minutes and was a “courtesy visit.”
Greg Burke, the Vatican spokesman traveling with the pope, said they discussed “the great responsibility of the country’s authorities in this moment of transition.”
The moving of the meeting suggested that the pope was mindful of the egos and agendas that he has to try to manage without making a misstep that could endanger Myanmar’s Christians, who make up about 1.3 percent of the population.
More than 600,000 Rohingya have fled to neighboring Bangladesh.