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Pope Francis arrived Myanmar and Bangladesh on Monday on a visit to encourage their tiny Catholic communities and reach out to some of Asia's most peripheral and poor. Meanwhile, there were speculations on whether the holy father would speak on the Rohingya crisis but he indeed spoke.

The Pope immediately after touching down in Myanmar dove into the Rohingya Muslim crisis by meeting Monday evening with Myanmar's powerful military leader, Gen. Min Aung Hlaing and three officials from the bureau of special operations. The general is in charge of the security operations in Rakhine state, where a military crackdown against the Muslim minority has sent more than 620,000 Rohingya into neighboring Bangladesh. Vatican spokesman Greg Burke didn't provide details of the private, 15-minute meeting at the archbishop's residence, other than to say that "They spoke of the great responsibility of the authorities of the country in this moment of transition."

Rohingya in recent months have been subject to what the United Nations says is a campaign of "textbook ethnic cleansing" by the military in Rakhine. But Myanmar's local Catholic Church has publicly urged Francis to avoid using the term "Rohyingya" because it is shunned by many locally because the ethnic group is not a recognized minority in the country.

http://www.naijachiefwhip.com/2017/11/pope-francis-visits-myanmar-wades-into-Rohingya-crisis.html