Pope Francis will be arriving at Yangon’s international airport today, Monday 27th and will be spending three days in Myanmar. The Pontiff will travel to the new capital, Nay Pwi Taw for talks with the President and the State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi. Pope Francis is due to meet with the nation’s Buddhist leaders and with the Catholic Bishops in Yangon and before departing for Bangladesh on November 30th, he will be celebrating two masses. Archbishop of Yangon, Cardinal Charles Bo was asked by Philippa Hitchen about the progress towards the democracy in his country. Cardinal Bo said that compared to the country’s ruling party in the past which exclusively made up of Burmese Buddhists, now, the party includes other ethnic groups and not only the Buddhists but also the Christians and other religions and for the Cardinal that is one big progress.
Cardinal Bo also said that another prominent change is that people nowadays have smart phones, newspapers and journals so they have more freedom of expression. He said that under the leadership of Aung San Suu Kyi the NLD has been making progress in civil administration through the military which is still powerful but they see that their democracy is still very fragile. Aung San Suu Kyi is now trying to implement the recommendations of the Kofi Annan report, added by Cardinal Bo. The archbishop notes that the Burmese in general have a deep respect for their religious leaders. He calls to stop hate speech and respect for other religions.
