Yangon (Agenzia Fides) – “ The Bishops’ Conference of Myanmar promotes justice, peace and reconciliation, and strongly requests all stakeholders to facilitate humanitarian access to the suffering and displaced people in order to provide basic humanitarian assistance. Human dignity and the right to life cannot be compromised. We ask with equal force for respect for life, for the sacredness of places of worship, hospitals and schools. All those who do their utmost to help people must be protected and helped” . This is according to an official statement issued by the Burmese bishops at the end of their annual assembly held in Yangon from January 11 to 14.
The text, sent to Agenzia Fides – signed by the President of the Bishops’ Conference of Myanmar (CBCM), Cardinal Charles Maung Bo and by all the other prelates – expresses “ deep sadness for the current situation in the country” , and concern “ for the very high risk to the life and safety of innocent people and especially for the displaced, children, women, the elderly and the sick in the affected areas, regardless of their ethnic origin or religious belief” . “ Thousands of people are on the move and millions are starving” , he says.
The Burmese Bishops say they are “ immensely grateful to all priests, religious and catechists who accompany the faithful on their journey through the dangers of life and provide them with pastoral support and the sacraments” . for their pastoral support and with the sacraments” . “ . They therefore encourage priests, religious and catechists “ to continue their mission of love and sacrifice to those in need, regardless of their ethnic origin or religious faith” . “ We are inspired by the communion of all the people of Myanmar, who have compassionately welcomed those fleeing, offering them refreshment, shelter and food. Small and large gestures that will be the cure for this country” , reads the Communiqué.
Looking to the future, the Bishops will continue to seek the communion of the universal Church and the community of donors to support all the people of Myanmar without discrimination” , in the certainty that “ everything is possible with God” . The prelates make a heartfelt appeal to all the Dioceses so that “ they promote peace in our country with every possible effort, especially by intense prayer. Our pastoral accompaniment will bring comfort to those in need. Our help and support in this nation will reach everyone, without any discrimination of origin or religion” . (Agenzia Fides, 15/1/2022)
By Joseph Kung Za Hmung
Yangon, (GNJ) – The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Myanmar (CBCM) released a statement of her appeal on 11 June 2021 on political and social crisis in Myanmar. The statement was signed by all (15) numbers of Catholic Bishops of Myanmar.
Myanmar Catholic Bishops, Photo taken on 10 June 2021 in Yangon
Faced with this emergency, the Bishops of Myanmar intervened who, at the conclusion of their plenary assembly, held in Yangon from 8 to 11 June, launched a heartfelt appeal in a Message, signed by the 13 Catholic Prelates, which reads: “ While our Country is going through difficult times, this appeal is being launched for humanitarian reasons. We are not politicians, we are leaders of faith, and we are accompanying our people on their journey towards human dignity” .
The text of the Bishops, posted in her Facebook Account, is formulated in four points: first of all, the Bishops, deeply concerned about the difficulty in reaching refugees, ask “ humanitarian corridors in conflict zones” not to be blocked. “ Thousands of people, especially the elderly and children, are dying of hunger in the jungles. Starving innocent people is the most heartbreaking experience. We implore that a humanitarian corridor is allowed to reach the hungry masses wherever they are. They are our citizens and have the fundamental right to food and security” , they write.
မင်းတပ်မြို့က စစ်ဘေးရှောင်ကလေးငယ်တွေကို တွေ့ရစဉ်
The second point calls for respect for churches and monasteries, Christians and Buddhists and places of worship, where thousands of displaced people have taken refuge, fleeing from their homes in search of a safe place. The text recalls that four churches in the diocese of Loikaw were attacked and thousands of people fled to the forests and asks to “ observe the international standards that protect sacred places in times of war” : “ Churches, pagodas, monasteries, mosques, temples, including schools and hospitals are recognized as neutral places of refuge during a conflict. We appeal that these places are not attacked and that people seeking refuge are protected” .
စစ်ကောင်စီတပ်ရဲ့ လက်နက်ကြီးကြောင့် ပျက်စီးသွားတဲ့ ဒေါငံခါးဘုရားကျောင်းကို ၂၀၂၁ ဇွန်လ ၆ ရက်နေ့က တွေ့ရစဉ်
In the third point, the Bishops of Myanmar ask all the dioceses and Catholic communities of the country to continue to pray for peace, celebrate holy masses, meditate during the Eucharistic Adoration, or recite the Rosary in order to place the nation under the protection of the Virgin Mary.
The text concludes, in the fourth point, by imploring all those involved at the local and international level to “ work for a lasting peace” : “ In the last seven decades – we read – this country has been in conflict. Now only tears and pain of innocent people remain. As a nation we must invest in peace. This country deserves to become part of the community of nations, consigning its past to history and investing in peace. Human dignity is given by God and no amount of violence can deny this aspiration to human dignity. Peace is still possible. Peace is the path” .
