The Pope's plea was revealed in a conversation with Jesuits during his trip to Southeast Asia from September 2 to 13. The Italian daily Corriere della Sera published excerpts from these talks on September 24.

"I asked for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi, and I met her son in Rome. I have proposed to the Vatican to give her shelter on our territory" the report says quoting Pope Francis.

Suu Kyi's Detention and Health Concerns

Aung San Suu Kyi, 78, has been held in custody since the Myanmar military's 2021 coup, which ended a decade of democratic governance in the country.

She is currently serving a 27-year sentence on charges ranging from corruption to violating COVID-19 restrictions.

Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, has been kept largely out of public view, sparking concerns over her well-being.

Local reports have also suggested that her health is deteriorating, though officials have provided little information on her condition.

Pope calls for action in Myanmar

Pope Francis, who visited Myanmar in 2017, spoke out against the ongoing violence in the country.

"We cannot stay silent about the situation in Myanmar today. We must do something!" he said during his conversation with Jesuits.

He also emphasised the need for peace and democracy in the nation.

"The future of your country should be one of peace based on respect for the dignity and rights of everyone and respect for a democratic system that enables everyone to contribute to the common good" Francis added.

Executions condemned by human rights groups

As Myanmar's military junta continues its crackdown on opposition, the regime recently executed two pro-democracy activists, Maung Kaung Htet and Chan Myae Thu, for their involvement in a prison bombing in Yangon.

According to the Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development, Myae Thu became the first woman executed since the coup.

"Words of condemnation are no longer sufficient, concrete action is much needed to end the culture of impunity under which the junta operates" said Mary Aileen Diez-Bacalso, executive director of FORUM-ASIA.

"Death sentences and executions are not only a punitive response to legitimate resistance but also serve to crush all dissent through terror and fear" Bacalso added.

Sources

• La Croix International
• UCANews.com
• CathNews NZ

Human rights groups say the use of artificial intelligence (AI) to check on citizens' movements poses a "serious threat" to their liberty.

More than 200 people have been killed since Nobel peace laureate Suu Kyi was overthrown in a Feb. 1 coup, triggering mass protests that security forces have struggled to suppress with increasingly violent tactics.

Security forces have focused on stamping out dissent in cities including the capital Naypyitaw, Yangon and Mandalay, where hundreds of CCTV cameras had been installed as part of a drive to improve governance and curb crime.

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The occasion saw Suu Kyi and Francis formally agree to a diplomatic relationship between the Vatican and Myanmar.

The agreement says it aims to "establish diplomatic relations at the level of Apostolic Nunciature, on behalf of the Holy See, and Embassy, on the part of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar".

The agreement is groundbreaking as the Vatican and Myanmar have been isolated from each other for over 60 years by Myanmar's ruling military dictatorship.

Bishop Alexander Pyone Cho of Pyay said the meeting was "good news".

"The Catholic Church will have more of voice in nation-building especially in the peace process and interfaith dialogue so it is really helpful not only for the church but also for other religions in the country," he said.

The Pope will send Archbishop Paul Tschang In-Nam, who is based in Thailand, as the Apostolic Nuncio to Myanmar.

In its turn, Myanmar will be able to send an ambassador to the Vatican.

Source

• Vatican Radio
• Catholic Herald
• Image: Catholic Herald

Only two years before his swearing in, he was working at Silver Fern Farms' Finegand freezing works, while his wife Anna Sui studied towards a PhD at the University of Otago.

Van Thio, a Christian, is part of Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy, which recently won landmark elections in the country.

He is the first non-Buddhist to hold the office of the Vice President of Myanmar.

His faith has been the subject of controversy as after his appointment nationalist monks protested saying that only Buddhists should hold political positions.

The choice of having a minority ethnic as a vice president is a symbolic gesture by Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party to assist national reconciliation efforts, say observers.

Combined, Myanmar's minority ethnic groups make up a third of the country's 53 million people.

As part of that, Christians heavily populate Myanmar's ethnic-based states of Chin, Kachin, Karen and Kayah in an otherwise predominately Buddhist country.

Shay Ray Shu Maung, a Catholic and upper house Member of Parliament from the National League for Democracy in Kayah state, said it was unexpected and surprising that an ethnic Chin lawmaker was nominated as a vice presidential candidate.

Leith Valley Presbyterian Church lead pastor the Rev Richard Dawson said Van Thio's rapid rise was a big surprise to his congregation, which Van Thio and his wife were part of from 2011 until they returned home last year.

He said Van Thio was probably as surprised at his appointment as they were, as he settled on a decision to enter politics only as recently as last year.

Mihi Stevens, who gave Van Thio a job at Finegand, thought it was an "April Fools' joke" when she was told about his appointment on 1 April.

She could not remember much about him, but his supervisors told her he was a good worker and "very knowledgeable".

Source

• nzherald.co.nz
• wikipedia.org
• odt.co.nz
• ucanews.com
• Image: mediapermata.com.

While the Pope assured the Nobel Peace Prize winner of the Church's support for her cause, he specified that the Church does not show discrimination but is at the service of all with its charitable works.

Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi called the 20-minute meeting a "rather significant encounter" between two leaders "fundamentally on the same wavelength" regarding nonviolence, democracy and "peaceful coexistence in today's world".

Father Lombardi described Suu Kyi as "one of the most significant personalities in Asia in the area of peace, democracy and peaceful coexistence" and a "symbol of non-violent commitment to democracy and peace".

He said Pope Francis "naturally assured [her] of his prayers for Myanmar and for the Catholic community and the Church in her country, and of his appreciation for the lady's commitment to development and democracy in her country, assuring her of the collaboration of the Catholic Church in these great causes".

Myanmar, formerly Burma, has an overwhelmingly Buddhist population of 55 million, with Catholics making up only 1 per cent.

Under the military junta governing Myanmar, Suu Kyi spent most of the last two decades in some form of detention because of her efforts to bring democracy to the country.

"The Holy Father told me that emotions such as hatred and fear diminish life and the value of the person," she after her meeting with Pope Francis.

She said the Pope also told her "we need to value love and understanding to improve the lives of people".

Suu Kyi, who has become an international symbol of peaceful resistance in the face of oppression, was re-elected to parliament in 2012.

Sources:

Catholic News Service

Vatican Radio

ANSA

Image: National Catholic Reporter