AGL 38.10 Decreased By ▼ -0.06 (-0.16%)
AIRLINK 136.75 Increased By ▲ 2.56 (1.91%)
BOP 9.22 Increased By ▲ 0.37 (4.18%)
CNERGY 4.75 Increased By ▲ 0.06 (1.28%)
DCL 8.83 Increased By ▲ 0.16 (1.85%)
DFML 38.44 Decreased By ▼ -1.34 (-3.37%)
DGKC 85.40 Increased By ▲ 0.25 (0.29%)
FCCL 35.35 Increased By ▲ 0.45 (1.29%)
FFBL 76.99 Increased By ▲ 1.39 (1.84%)
FFL 12.70 Decreased By ▼ -0.04 (-0.31%)
HUBC 108.79 Decreased By ▼ -0.66 (-0.6%)
HUMNL 14.74 Increased By ▲ 0.64 (4.54%)
KEL 5.55 Increased By ▲ 0.15 (2.78%)
KOSM 8.05 Increased By ▲ 0.30 (3.87%)
MLCF 40.70 Decreased By ▼ -0.67 (-1.62%)
NBP 71.40 Increased By ▲ 1.70 (2.44%)
OGDC 194.75 Increased By ▲ 1.13 (0.58%)
PAEL 27.00 Increased By ▲ 0.79 (3.01%)
PIBTL 7.48 Increased By ▲ 0.06 (0.81%)
PPL 167.95 Increased By ▲ 4.10 (2.5%)
PRL 26.25 Decreased By ▼ -0.11 (-0.42%)
PTC 20.40 Increased By ▲ 0.93 (4.78%)
SEARL 92.84 Increased By ▲ 8.44 (10%)
TELE 7.89 Decreased By ▼ -0.10 (-1.25%)
TOMCL 35.32 Increased By ▲ 1.27 (3.73%)
TPLP 8.98 Increased By ▲ 0.26 (2.98%)
TREET 17.34 Increased By ▲ 0.16 (0.93%)
TRG 59.50 Decreased By ▼ -1.50 (-2.46%)
UNITY 31.00 Increased By ▲ 2.04 (7.04%)
WTL 1.39 Increased By ▲ 0.02 (1.46%)
BR100 10,901 Increased By 125.5 (1.16%)
BR30 32,654 Increased By 420 (1.3%)
KSE100 101,357 Increased By 1274.6 (1.27%)
KSE30 31,488 Increased By 295 (0.95%)

Pope Francis called on Myanmar's top Buddhist monks to conquer "prejudice and hatred" in a country ravaged by communal divisions, after holding the nation's first-ever papal mass attended by 150,000 Catholics on Wednesday. The pontiff's four-day visit has so far been marked by his avoidance in public of the crisis in northern Rakhine state and Myanmar's treatment of its Rohingya Muslim community.
Francis has previously spoken out strongly in defence of the Muslim group, whom the UN and US say are victims of an ethnic cleansing campaign by Myanmar's military that has driven 620,000 of them into Bangladesh since late August. "If we are to be united, as is our purpose, we need to surmount all forms of misunderstanding, intolerance, prejudice and hatred," the pope told the orange-robed monks of Myanmar's highest Buddhist body, called the Sangha Maha Nayka.
Radical monks have played a key role in fanning Islamaphobia in Myanmar and hardening attitudes towards the Rohingya. In recent months the Sangha has moved to rein them in, especially in banning sermons by Wirathu - a monk whose vitriolic rants were widely disseminated via social media. Welcoming the pope Sangha chairman, Kumarabhivamsa, who oversees Myanmar's estimated 600,000 monks, expressed sadness at "extremism and terrorism" conducted in the name of religion.
Earlier on Wednesday the pope delivered a message of forgiveness in an open-air mass before a sea of Catholics in Yangon, many wearing colourful costumes from the country's myriad ethnic groups. "I never dreamed I would see him in my lifetime," said Meo, an 81-year-old from the Akha minority in Shan state.
A choir of Myanmar nuns sang in Latin, accompanied by organ music, as Francis delivered a homily urging compassion - opening his speech with "minglabar", Burmese for "hello". "I can see that the Church here is alive," he said of a Catholic community numbering around 700,000 - a tiny fraction of the country's 51 million people.

Comments

Comments are closed.