Suu Kyi meets Pope’s envoy in Yangon

(December, 09, 2011) Myanmar’s opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi met a papal envoy on Thursday at celebrations marking the centenary of St. Mary’s Cathedral in Yangon. Pope Benedict XVI has sent Cardinal Renato Martino, a retired Vatican official, as his personal envoy to the centenary celebrations on Dec. 8, the feast of the Immaculate Conception of Mary, to whom Yangon cathedral is dedicated. Suu Kyi, the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize laureate and Cardinal Martino spoke together for several minutes in the presence of Archbishop Charles Bo of Yangon, ahead of the celebration, the details of which were not immediately known. Her visit underscores her call for national reconciliation to include all in society no matter their ethnic or religious background. Speaking ahead of the centenary ceremony Archbishop Charles Bo of Yangon told Vatican news agency Fides: “It will be an important moment for the Christian community: for its history and faith, but also for its future, for the role Christians wish to play in a free and democratic country.” Also in attendance at the celebration was an official from the Ministry of Religious Affairs, who read out a letter from the minister calling on Christians to “involve themselves in the country’s development as much they can” as they are also good citizens of Myanmar. The official left following Cardinal Martino’s homily in which he called on local Catholics to work with other faiths for the education, health care and social welfare of the people for the country’s development. “Catholics in Myanmar must be the light and strength of the country according to the will of God,” the cardinal added. A priest from Yangon archdiocese also read out a letter from Pope Benedict XVI in which he called on Cardinal Martino to convey his greetings to the clergy, religious and lay Catholics in Yangon archdiocese as also to members of other faiths and to those who cherish religious freedom and the wellbeing of all people.