Pope calls on Myanmar's minorities to show forgiveness

By Kyaw Ye Lynn

YANGON, Myanmar

Pope Francis on Wednesday led an open-air Mass in Yangon for more than 200,000 Catholics from across Myanmar.

Most gathered in Yangon, the former capital, on the third day of the visit -- the first by a pontiff to Myanmar -- after traveling from conflict-torn Kachin state and the poorest state of Chin.

However, the flags of Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam could be seen in the crowd, indicating many had travelled from further afield.

From late Tuesday night, thousands of Catholics began gathering at the Kyaik Kasan stadium in Thingangyun township to see Francis.

They heard the pope call on Myanmar’s ethnic minorities, who have suffered decades of oppression at the hands of the military, not to give in to the desire for revenge.

Conflicts involving the Karen, Kachin, Sha and Wa peoples, who make up around 40 percent of the population, have claimed thousands of lives in recent decades.

“I know that many in Myanmar bear the wounds of violence, wounds both visible and invisible,” Francis said crowd in Italian that was translated into Burmese.

He urged people to respond with “forgiveness and compassion” and added: “The way of revenge is not the way of Jesus.”

His message of forgiveness was his first public Mass in the predominantly Buddhist nation.

The pope said his priority in Myanmar was to minister to its 660,000-strong Roman Catholic community.

A prayer read in the Karen language referred to talks between the civilian government and 17 of Myanmar’s 20 major ethnic groups that have spent decades fighting for greater autonomy.

'Miracle'

Myanmar’s first-ever cardinal, Charles Bo, described Francis’ visit as a “miracle”.

The pope’s visit to Myanmar had been shrouded in speculation over whether he would refer to Rohingya Muslims directly following comments by the leader of the country’s Catholics that he should not.

So far, Francis has made no mention of the Rohingya or the crackdown in the western state of Rakhine that has been condemned by the UN and U.S. as “ethnic cleansing”.

More than 620,000 refugees have fled Rakhine in the wake of a brutal military operation that has, according to refugee accounts, seen security forces and Buddhist mobs kill men, women and children, loot homes and torch Rohingya villages.

Speaking in September, Bangladeshi Foreign Minister Abul Hasan Mahmood Ali said around 3,000 Rohingya had been killed in the operation.

Rohingya have faced discrimination in the predominantly Buddhist country for decades. They are deprived of citizenship and unable to access basic services.

Described by the UN as the world's most persecuted people, they have faced heightened threats of attack since dozens were killed in communal violence in 2012.

In a five-month security operation launched last year, the UN documented mass gang rapes, killings -- including of infants and young children -- brutal beatings and disappearances committed by security personnel.

UN investigators said such violations may have constituted crimes against humanity.

The international community has called on the Myanmar government and military to immediately halt atrocities and allow Rohingya to return home safely.

Later Wednesday, Francis was due to meet Myanmar’s Buddhist leadership and speak to the country’s Catholic bishops.

On Thursday, he is to celebrate a Mass for young people before heading to Bangladesh for the second leg of his tour.