Meeting with Myanmar’s Buddhist leaders in Yangon, Pope Francis again pleaded for interreligious dialogue. Repeating what he had earlier told 150,000 faithful at a papal mass, he emphasized that religions need to work to “heal the wounds” of a still divided nation.
In a meeting at the Kaba Aye Pagoda in Yangon on November 29, Pope Francis challenged Myanmar’s Buddhist monks by comparing Buddha and St Francis of Assisi.
“Overcome anger with non-anger; overcome wickedness with goodness; overcome the miser with generosity; overcome the liar with truth,” Pope Francis said, quoting the Dhammapada, a collection of sayings of the Buddha.
He illustrated the parallel with the prayer of St Francis of Assisi: “Lord, make me an instrument of your peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love. Where there is injury, let me bring pardon… This witness, Francis said, is particularly needed at a time when, despite technological progress and a rising awareness in society of our common humanity, “the wounds of conflict, poverty and oppression persist, and create new divisions. “In the face of these challenges, we must never grow resigned,” Francis said.
Showing respect to his hosts, upon arriving to the Kaba Aye Centre, Francis took his shoes off but kept on his black socks, in itself an exception, since both monks and visitors always walk barefooted in the Pagodas.
The overwhelming majority of the population in Myanmar is Buddhist, and religious and ethnic minorities often complain of oppression and second-class citizenship. In that context, Francis told the Buddhist monks that the whole of society is called to work to overcome conflict and injustice, adding that civil and religious leaders have a responsibility to ensure that every voice is heard. The official name of the group Francis met with is State Sangha Maha Nayaka Committee, a government-appointed body of 47 high-ranking Buddhist monks that oversees and regulates the Buddhist clergy in Myanmar.
There are an estimated 500,000 Buddhist monks and 70,000 nuns in Myanmar.
