Myanmar's Cardinal Bo meets Pope to discuss upcoming
visit
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| Cardinal Charles Bo, Archbishop of Yangon, meets with Pope Francis onSaturday to discuss the forthcoming papal journey to his country.- RV |
(Vatican Radio) Ten days before Pope Francis arrives in
Myanmar on his 21st apostolic journey, the Archbishop of Yangon,
Cardinal Charles Bo is meeting with him in the Vatican on Saturday to discuss
details of the planned encounters with religious and political leaders.
The pope is scheduled to leave Rome on November 26th and
arrive at Yangon’s international airport the following day. He will spend three
days in Myanmar, travelling to the new capital, Nay Pyi Taw for talks
with the president and with State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi.
In Yangon he is due to meet with the nation’s Buddhist
leaders and with the Catholic bishops, as well as celebrating two public
Masses, before departing for Bangladesh on November 30th.
But during his meeting with the Holy Father in the Vatican,
Cardinal Charles Bo told us he will be requesting a couple of
additional encounters that he hopes can serve as “the first step for
peace” in his country…
The cardinal says during his encounter with the pope on
November 18th, he will be asking him to meet “informally” with all the
country’s religious leaders together, including Buddhists Muslims, Hindus and
Christians.
Meeting with religious leaders and military general?
Although it’s not in the protocol, he says, “also I’m going
to ask the pope whether he could meet the senior general, privately”. The aim,
he says, is “not to promote what he has done, but to have a dialogue with him”
The cardinal adds: “Perhaps he could soften his heart and perhaps that could be
the first step for peace”.
Motto for papal journey
Myanmar’s Catholic leader recalls that the motto for
the papal visit is “love and peace”, which must be promoted among all the
different ethnic groups and religious communities. He says it’s vital to “stop
the civil war” between the military and the armed ethnic groups, including the
Kachin, the Shan and others.
Catholic Church focus on nation building
The cardinal says that ahead of the papal visit, the
Catholic bishops and lay representatives have had a national gathering to talk
about nation building. Among the priorities for the Church, he says, are
education, peace building, integral human development and the promotion of
women and children.
Hopes for visit
Catholics in Myanmar make up less than one and a half
percent of the population, numbering around 700.000 faithful. “Although we are
a small minority”, the cardinal says, the pope’s visit will be have a “big
impact on us to carry on with our programme”. Despite the difficulties the
country is facing, he adds, “we hope to be the real light of the world and salt
of the earth”.
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