Pope Francis This Easter was a very special one for the people of Burma (Myanmar), Yangon’s Cardinal Charles Maung Bo has said in an Easter message.
Celebrating the outcome of the November 2015 elections, and the election of the country’s first non-military president after 50 years of military rule, he said “Easter breaks forth like a river in the long desert”.
“The river of democracy,” he continued, “is slowly spreading its splendour in the long desert of hopelessness. We, people of Myanmar, today celebrate Easter with signs of resurrection around us.”
Mapping out the country’s recent history in terms of the Passion and Resurrection, the cardinal lamented how the country had been “crucified on the cross of injustice” and noted how the ill treatment of religions other than Buddhism had “caused chronic conflicts and displacements”.
Nonetheless, the country’s Catholics need to look beyond their history of persecution and “bring hope to a new Myanmar of peace, prosperity and fellowship”, he said.
Heed Francis – Japanese bishop
The Japanese president of Caritas Asia has described the government’s attitude to Pope Francis as “surprising”, following reports that two murderers had been executed.
Niigata’s Bishop Tarcisio Isao Kikuchi said the executions on Good Friday of a 75-year-old serial killer and a female nurse who had killed two people for insurance money were “very sad”, and while acknowledging that most Japanese people – including a substantial number of Catholics – support the death penalty, said that as members of the Church, Catholics should listen to the Pope on this issue.
Dr Kikuchi questioned the consistency of the Japanese government implementing the death penalty just days after it invited Pope Francis to visit Japan to pray for peace in Asia.