Pope Francis gestures during a news conference on board of the plane during his flight back from a trip to Myanmar and Bangladesh, on Sunday. Francis did not use the word Rohingya in public while on the first leg of the trip in Myanmar. Predominantly Buddhist Myanmar does not recognise the mostly Muslim Rohingya as an ethnic group with its own identity but as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. The latest exodus from Myanmar to Bangladesh of about 625,000 people followed a Myanmar military crackdown in response to Rohingya militant attacks on an army base and police posts on Aug 25. Pope Francis did what he was criticized for failing to do days earlier – he called the Rohingya by name.

Source: Bangkok Post December 03, 2017 07:13 UTC