Francis lands in Myanmar, beginning delicate visit in midst of Rohingya crisis

Francis is staying in Yangon each night in Myanmar, but will travel about 200 miles north Nov. 28 to the capital of Naypyidaw, where he will meet Suu Kyi and President Htin Kyaw, an ally of the Nobel laureate.

After separate private encounters with Suu Kyi and Kyaw, Francis is scheduled to address them and Myanmar's other political leaders publicly. His address is expected to draw attention either with a reference to the Rohingya or with the absence of such a reference.

The Myanmar military says it launched operations against the Rohingya earlier in the year following insurgent attacks in Rakhine. The top U.N. human rights official, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, said in September that the military operations were "clearly disproportionate" to the original insurgent attacks and had resulted in "a textbook example of ethnic cleansing."

Francis is keeping a relatively light schedule in Myanmar. He has no scheduled appointments until the Nov. 28 visit to the capital. On subsequent days he will celebrate a Mass for the country's small Catholic community, meet with the country's bishops, and speak to the state-controlled supreme council of Myanmar's Sangha Buddhists.

Myanmar is estimated to be about 90 percent Buddhist. According to the Vatican's 2015 statistics, the latest available, the country has about 659,000 Catholics out of a population of some 52 million.

The Vatican announced Francis' visit to Myanmar and Bangladesh Aug. 28, before full details of Myanmar military's operation against the Rohingya were known. The trip was initially seen as a way for Francis -- who had the Vatican establish full diplomatic relations with Myanmar for the first time in May after a visit to Rome by Suu Kyi -- to support the country's transition to democracy.

The pope has spoken specifically about Myanmar's treatment of the Rohingya in the past. In remarks following his weekly Sunday Angelus prayer in St. Peter's Square Aug. 27, for example, he said he had learned of the "persecution" of "our Rohingya brothers and sisters" and asked for prayer that they would be "given their full rights."

Francis is to travel Nov. 30 to Bangladesh, before returning to Rome Dec. 2.

[Joshua J. McElwee is NCR Vatican correspondent. His email address is jmcelwee@ncronline.org. Follow him on Twitter: @joshjmac.]

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