Vatican media hails Suu Kyi electoral win

(April, 04, 2012) Vatican’s newspaper - L’Osservatore Romano on Tuesday hailed the sweeping victory of Aung San Suu Kyi in Myanmar’s by-election. The news of her victory made it to the front-page of the semi-official Vatican newspaper. A news article headlined “The seat of hope,” reported on the success of the leader of the National League for Democracy -NLD, in the first internationally recognized vote in Myanmar in more than 20 years. “The result of the vote should bring significant economic benefits to the whole country,” wrote the Vatican newspaper, commenting on the possible lifting of United States and European Union sanctions against Myanmar. “According to analysts, the effects of the return of Aung San Suu Kyi to Parliament and of the victory of her party, will be numerous and far reaching,” L’Osservatore Romano noted.
Fr. Massimo Cenci, undersecretary of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, praised the country’s “awakening” and ascribed its merit to the NLD leader. “Suu Kyi has stirred the people’s longing not only for democracy, but for involvement in what happens in their country from the social and political point of view,” he told ucanews. He said the Vatican and the Catholic Church are following the situation closely. “We are very interested in the developments as there are still significant restrictions to Church activity there. But if the opening up of the country picks up steam, the Church will profit from it in terms of freedom,” he added.