Was the pope being "both prophetic and diplomatic" on the Rohingya crisis?
In Francis' recent trip to Myanmar and Bangladesh, he heard calls to condemn persecution of Muslims and fears of violence against Christians.
Pope Francis opened a diplomatically fraught trip to Myanmar and Bangladesh by immediately diving into the crisis over Myanmar’s crackdown on Rohingya Muslims: he met with the country’s military chief even before beginning the official program of his trip.
“They spoke of the great responsibility of the authorities of the country in this moment of transition,” said Vatican spokesman Greg Burke of Francis’s 15-minute visit with Gen. Min Aung Hlaing in the residence of the archbishop of Yangon, Cardinal Charles Bo.
The general is in charge of security in Rakhine State, where the military’s “clearance operations” against the Muslim minority have sent more than 620,000 Rohingya fleeing into neighboring Bangladesh. Refugees there have told of entire villages being burned and women and girls being raped.
