Catholics in Myanmar expressed their gratitude to Pope Francis for his renewed call for prayers for the country early this week.
“Pope Francis holds us in his heart and prayers and continues to emphasize to the world our miserable conditions,” said Robert Khen Tlung, a Catholic layman from Yangon.
The pontiff told pilgrims from the Diocese of Crema in Italy on April 15 that Myanmar is “a troubled land, which I hold in my heart and for which I invite you to pray, imploring of God the gift of peace.”
Pope Francis has spoken several times about the crisis in Myanmar, a country he regards with much affection, after visiting there in November 2017.
In his Easter message on April 9, the pope repeated his call for “peace.”
A report on Fides said the faithful of Myanmar are grateful to the pope who “is praying for Myanmar to overcome the current difficult political situation.”
During Sunday Mass on April 16, Cardinal Charles Maung Bo of Yangon said that while the Burmese people are experiencing the horrors of war, “we do not forget God and entrust ourselves to Him for all our needs.”
“Each of us experiences hardships, pains, problems. Let us place them in the hands of the Lord,” he said, adding that even the Holy Father “remembers us and prays that we entrust ourselves to Divine Mercy, who gives us comfort and consolation, and graces in abundance.”
Growing number of deaths
The death toll from a military airstrike in northern Myanmar’s Sagaing region on civilians has nearly doubled to an estimated 200 people, a local member of the People’s Defense Forces told Radio Free Asia on Monday, April 17.
During the April 11 attack, jets bombed and helicopters strafed the opening ceremony for a public administration building in Pa Zi Gyi village.
“Nothing was left of some people who died in the air strike,” said a member of a local People’s Defense Force, who declined to give his name so he could speak freely.
“As far as we can confirm, there were over 170 people dead up to yesterday’s update, but when we can take the missing people into account, we can say that the total is about 200,” he said.
He said it would be difficult to ascertain an exact toll given that many body parts were missing, and because surviving villagers had fled. The village had about 300 residents.
About 70 Pa Zi Gyi residents who fled their homes remain sheltering in forests, and resistance groups and aid workers are providing them with food supplies from nearby villages, he said.
As of Sunday, six more of the injured people died, while others are being treated by medical teams linked to the shadow National Unity Government, or NUG, a group of former civilian leaders and others opposed to the junta’s rule.
The new count comes a day after the National Unity Government reported that 168 people, including 40 minors, had been killed in the air attack.
At a news conference on Sunday, the NUG said that the dead included six children under the age of 5, 19 children between ages 5 and 14, five children between ages 14 and 18, and 10 children whose ages could not be identified. – with a report from Fides and Radio Free Asia
