Pope’s ‘refugee champ’ image tested in Myanmar
VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis is heading to Myanmar and Bangladesh with the international community criticizing Myanmar’s crackdown on Rohingya Muslims as “ethnic cleansing” but his own church resisting the label and defending the country’s civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi as the only hope for democracy.
Francis will thus be walking a fraught diplomatic tightrope during the Nov. 27-Dec. 2 visit which will include separate meetings with Suu Kyi, the powerful head of Myanmar’s military as well as a small group of Rohingya once the pontiff arrives in neighboring Bangladesh.
Francis has defined his papacy by his frequent denunciations of injustices committed against refugees, and he would be expected to speak out strongly against the Rohingya plight.
But he is also the guest of Myanmar’s government and must look out for the wellbeing of his own tiny flock, a minority of just 659,000 Catholics in the majority Buddhist nation of 51 million.
“Let’s just say it’s very interesting diplomatically,” Vatican spokesman Greg Burke responded when asked if Francis’ 21st foreign trip would be his most difficult.
The Rev. Thomas Reese, an American Jesuit commentator, was more direct.
“I have great admiration for the pope and his abilities, but someone should have talked him out of making this trip,” Reese wrote recently on