Myanmar welcomes Pope Francis on Apostolic Visit
(Vatican Radio) The people of Myanmar welcomed Pope
Francis to Yangon on Monday afternoon, although a first glance around
the cities of Yangon and the capital Naypyitaw show
few signs of any major preparations.
Philippa Hitchen has been travelling around the
country, in preparation for this pastoral visit and reports on
the expectations of the Catholic community ahead of the pope's
arrival.
One or two isolated posters and billboards can be spotted
around the central St Mary’s cathedral in Yangon and the adjacent archbishop’s
house where the pope will be staying for the duration of this three day visit.
Further out of the centre, away from the shopping malls and smart hotels, in
the townships that make up the sprawling metropolis, the other Catholic
parishes have also been preparing for this first ever papal visit to the
largely Buddhist nation.
Christians in northern Kachin state
Eager pilgrims have been converging on Yangon from other
cities too, especially from the northern Kachin state where the majority of
Christians are located. I visited Bishop Francis Tang from the diocese of
Myitkyina there, watching busloads of men, women and children gathering with
their bags on the grass outside his church, in preparation for the two day
journey down south. The bishops say up to 200.000 people are expected to attend
the main papal events, including pilgrims from neighbouring Thailand, Vietnam,
Korea and the Philippines.
Myanmar's many ethnic minorities
Officially there has been good cooperation with the Myanmar
authorities in the planning of this trip, though everyone is on tenterhooks
over the crisis in northern Rakhine state. With western media focused almost
exclusively on whether or not the pope will pronounce the word ‘Rohingya’,
organisers are seeking to shine the light on the many other refugee problems
that still plague this nation, made up of over 130 different ethnic minorities.
Several of them are locked in long running conflicts that have seen hundreds of
thousands of villagers fleeing their homes and living in squalid camps for
internally displaced people. I visited one of the 32 located in Myitkyina
alone, where the Church tries to supplement basic services provided to
Christian families there by the World Food Programme and a variety of NGOs.
High expectations for papal visit
Expectations among these Christian communities are sky-high,
hoping the pope can miraculously bring the civil war to an end, by encouraging
the military and members of the various independence armies to return to the
negotiating table. Without peace and respect for all the country’s minorities,
they insist, this nation can never develop and improve living standards for the
quarter of its population that still lives below the poverty line.
Messenger of peace and reconciliation
That includes people living in the squalid slums I can see
from my hotel overlooking Yangon city centre, close to St Mary’s cathedral.
Many of them, including plenty of non-Catholics, will be lining the route as
the papal motorcade passes by on Monday, or queuing to enter the stadium where
he’ll celebrate Mass on Wednesday. For them, this visit marks a once in a
lifetime opportunity to welcome the man they’re hailing as a messenger of
reconciliation and peace.
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