‘I Ask Forgiveness,’ Pope Francis Tells Rohingya Muslims in Bangladesh
Francis had in the past, from the Vatican, denounced the "persecution of our Rohingya brothers,"
but during his visit Monday to Thursday in Myanmar, diplomatic considerations and a fear of prompting a military crackdown on the Christian minority had kept the usually outspoken pope from uttering the term Rohingya or directly addressing the humanitarian disaster.
1, 2017
DHAKA, Bangladesh — On the eve of his return to Rome, Pope Francis on Friday used the word "Rohingya," coming face-to-face
with some of the persecuted Muslims whose plight had cast a long shadow over his visit to Myanmar and Bangladesh.
To the large audience of Christians, Hindus, Buddhists and others, he stressed
that the Rohingya, as all of humanity, were created in the image of God and he vowed to continue helping them "so that their rights become recognized." The Rohingya are stateless Muslims from western Myanmar who, according to the United Nations, the United States and many human rights groups, have been the targets of ethnic cleansing.
Myanmar said that We have been Rohingya for generations, my father and my grandfather,
Critics had been asking why a pontiff who so often condemned injustice against the downtrodden had stayed silent earlier in the week, when he made his first visit
to Myanmar, a country in which Rohingya Muslims have been raped, killed or driven into exile in Bangladesh by a brutal military campaign of repression.
Rafiqul Islam said that He had to be balanced over in Myanmar,
