ROME — Pope Francis urged Myanmar Catholics Sunday to be steadfast in faith in the midst of “violence, conflict, and repression.”
“Do not lose hope: even today, Jesus is interceding before the Father for all of us, praying that he keep us from the evil one and set us free from evil’s power,” the pope said during a special Mass celebrated for the Myanmar (Burmese) community in Saint Peter’s Basilica.
“In these days when your beloved country of Myanmar is experiencing violence, conflict and repression,” Jesus asks us to “keep the faith,” to “preserve the unity of his disciples,” and to “keep the truth,” the pontiff stated, in reference to ongoing violence in the country following a coup d’état in February.
Jesus prays during the last hours of his life, an example that teaches us “how to deal with dramatic and painful moments in our own lives,” the pontiff said.
Jesus “does not resign himself to evil; he does not let himself be overwhelmed by grief; he does not retreat into the bitterness of the defeated and disappointed; instead, he looks to heaven,” Francis said, on the day when Catholics around the world mark Christ’s ascension into heaven 40 days after his resurrection.
“To keep the faith is to keep our gaze lifted up to heaven, as here on earth, battles are fought and innocent blood is shed,” the pope said. “To keep the faith is to refuse to yield to the logic of hatred and vengeance, but to keep our gaze fixed on the God of love, who calls us to be brothers and sisters to one another.”
“We may want to protest, to cry out to God in our pain,” he said. “We should not be afraid to do so, for this too is prayer.”
Jesus calls on Christians to keep the truth and to bear witness to the Gospel “even when that means going against the current,” he said. They are “not to bend the Gospel to human and worldly ways of thinking, but to preserve his message in its integrity.”
“At times, we Christians want to compromise, but the Gospel asks us to be steadfast in the truth and for the truth, offering our lives for others,” he added.
For his part, Myanmar Cardinal Charles Bo has invited Christians around the world to unite in praying for the Chinese people during the week of May 23-30.
“Since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, the peoples of China have faced increasing challenges, which impact us all,” said Cardinal Bo, who is president of the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences. “It is right that we should pray not only for the Church but for all persons in the People’s Republic of China.”
Cardinal Bo has made a point of clearly distinguishing between the Chinese people and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), which he has called “despotic” and “impossible.”
In April, 2020, Bo wrote a stern letter insisting that the CCP has “primary responsibility” for the global coronavirus pandemic and owes the world “compensation for the destruction it has caused.”
There is “one government that has primary responsibility for what it has done and what it has failed to do, and that is the CCP regime in Beijing,” Bo wrote.
“Let me be clear — it is the CCP that has been responsible, not the people of China, and no one should respond to this crisis with racial hatred toward the Chinese,” the cardinal declared. “Indeed, the Chinese people were the first victims of this virus and have long been the primary victims of their repressive regime.”
In his prayer campaign, the cardinal has reasserted his love and appreciation for the people of China.
“In proposing this Week of Prayer, I am expressing my love for the peoples of China, my respect for their ancient civilization and extraordinary economic growth, and my hopes that as it continues to rise as a global power, it may become a force for good and a protector of the rights of the most vulnerable and marginalized in the world,” he declared.
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