THE Pope has called for the immediate release of the former State Counsellor of Myanmar, Aung San Suu Kyi, and confirmed that he has received her son in Rome.
“I offered the Vatican as a place of refuge for her,” he said.
It has been more than three years since the military coup that overthrew her government (News, 9 February). Aung San Suu Kyi, who is 79, was detained in the early hours of 1 February 2021 (News, 5 February 2021), and is serving a 33-year sentence for charges that have been described as politically motivated.
The Pope was speaking with Jesuits during a visit to Jakarta, earlier this month, at the beginning of his “apostolic journey” to South-East Asia and Oceania. He received the brethren, whom he had met in Indonesia, Timor-Leste, and Singapore, privately in three different appointments.
Excerpts of the conversations were published by La Civiltà Cattolica, the historic magazine of the Society of Jesus, on Monday.
A Burmese Jesuit asked: “We have lost life, family, dreams and future . . . how can we not lose hope?” Pope Francis said that the situation was “difficult”.
“You know that the Rohingya are close to my heart,” he said, and recalled his trip to Myanmar and Bangladesh in December 2017; a conversation with Aung San Suu Kyi, then State Counsellor; and a meeting with the Rohingya who had been “driven out”.
“There is no universal answer to your question. There are good young people fighting for their homeland. In Myanmar today you cannot be silent; you have to do something!”
Pope Francis continued: “The future of your country must be peace, based on respect for the dignity and rights of all, on respect for a democratic order that allows each person to contribute to the common good.”
Renewing his appeal for Aung San Suu Kyi’s release, he said: “Right now, the lady is a symbol, and political symbols are to be defended. Do you remember that nun kneeling with her hands raised in front of the military? Her image went around the world. I pray that you young people will be brave like that. The Church in your country is courageous.”