Pope Francis calls for international response to Myanmar crisis

Pope Francis on Thursday called on the international community to help resolve the crisis in Myanmar that led hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims to flee into Bangladesh. Francis arrived in Bangladesh earlier in the day from Myanmar, also known as Burma, and was expected to meet with some of the refugees Friday. He commended Bangladesh for its generosity in welcoming the Rohingya. “None of us can fail to be aware of the gravity of the situation, the immense toll of human suffering involved, and the precarious living conditions of so many of our brothers and sisters, a majority of whom are women and children, crowded in the refugee camps,” he said. Myanmar has denied the Rohingya legal rights in the country, referring to them instead as Bengali immigrants. Myanmar security forces in August launched “clearance operations” against the Rohingya, and more than 600,000 people fled into neighboring Bangladesh. The pope received criticism for failing to use the name Rohingya to refer to the group in Myanmar. In his Thursday speech in Bangladesh, the pope referred to them as “refugees from Rakhine state.” Vatican spokesman Greg Burke said Francis took seriously the advice of Myanmar’s Catholic Church, which implored him earlier not to use the name to avoid backlash from the country’s military.