Commentary 24/09/30 Pope’s appeal to free Aung San Suu Kyi is welcome

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Pope’s appeal to free Aung San Suu Kyi is welcome

The same generous offer of refuge in the Vatican should also be extended to Jimmy Lai

Published: September 30, 2024 11:22 AM GMT ▾

Pope Francis shakes hands with Myanmar's then-civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi during an event in Nay Pyi Daw in this Nov. 28, 2017, photo. (Photo: AFP)

Pope Francis’ call for the release of Myanmar’s jailed democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, and his offer of the Vatican as a place of refuge for her, is a bold and generous move that is extremely welcome.

In renewing his appeal for her freedom, the pope told a young Burmese Jesuit in Jakarta at the start of his Apostolic journey to Southeast Asia earlier this month: “Right now, the lady is a symbol and political symbols are to be defended. Do you remember that nun kneeling with her hands raised in front of the military? Her image went around the world. I pray that you young people will be brave like that. The Church in your country is courageous.”

The message is a much-needed reminder to the world not to forget Myanmar in its hour of need.

However, it begs the question: why he will not also defend another “symbol” of democracy and freedom, Jimmy Lai, a devout Catholic entrepreneur and campaigner in jail in Hong Kong?

Given the concerns about 76-year-old Lai’s health and the conditions of his imprisonment, revealed this month by his international legal team in an appeal to the United Nations, and the allegation that he is now prohibited from receiving the sacrament of Holy Communion, isn’t it time the pope called for his release and offered him Vatican sanctuary too?

The pope’s appeal for 79-year-old Suu Kyi, reported last week, is not the first time the pontiff has spoken out for Myanmar, but the offer of sanctuary in the Vatican for her is new.

Suu Kyi has been in prison since the military overthrew her democratically elected civilian government in a coup in February 2021. News about her well-being and conditions is scarce, but last year concerns grew about her health, with her son Kim Aris expressing concern that her life was at risk.

In an article in The Independent last year, I warned that if she died in prison it would be the junta that killed her, through the denial of urgently needed medical care.

Francis also reiterated his concern for the predominantly Muslim Rohingyas, who face severe persecution, and for other victims of the military’s atrocities. “You know that the Rohingya are close to my heart,” he said.

Again, the pope has been consistent in his defence of the Rohingyas, who have faced a genocide over the past seven years. Since 2017 he has repeatedly spoken out for them, describing them as his “brothers and sisters.”

In August 2017, he said: "I would like to express all of my closeness to them," and prayed for them to be treated with “full rights."

In February 2024, he appealed for global attention and humanitarian aid for the Rohingyas, and all the peoples of Myanmar.

During his visit to Myanmar in December 2017 — the first by any pontiff in history — Francis was criticised for failing to use the term “Rohingya” in his speeches and homilies, or in his meetings with Suu Kyi, the current dictator and then Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces General Min Aung Hlaing, and senior Buddhist monks, amidst an atmosphere of escalating religious intolerance driven by the military and extremist Burman Buddhist nationalism.

However, the pope wasted no time in correcting this when he went on from Myanmar to Bangladesh, where he held hands with 16 Rohingya refugees who had been, as he put it, “driven out.” He declared that “the presence of God today is also called Rohingya.”

While he deserves great credit for consistently speaking out for the Rohingyas, yet again it raises a question as to why he has been almost completely silent about another genocide of a Muslim people in the region, that of the Uyghurs in China’s Xinjiang region?

The agreement which the Vatican has made with Beijing appears also to have resulted in the pope’s silence on the persecution of Christians in China, intensifying atrocities in Tibet, the dismantling of Hong Kong’s freedoms and growing aggression towards Taiwan.

This pope is the first pontiff in many decades to decline to meet or speak to Tibet’s spiritual leader, His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

Nevertheless, the pope’s support for Myanmar is to be applauded. He first met Suu Kyi in 2013, after her release from years under house arrest followed by her election to Myanmar’s Parliament, ahead of her forming her first government in 2015. They met again in May 2017, six months before his visit to the country, when she traveled to Rome as Myanmar’s de facto head of government, and full diplomatic relations between the Vatican and Myanmar were established.

It has also now been confirmed that Francis received her son at the Vatican last year. “I am sure that [my mother] would express her gratitude to Pope Francis for urging the military junta to release her and his proposal to the Vatican to offer her refuge,” Aris said.

“Nonetheless, I am doubtful that the junta would take such a request into account, as they remain fearful of [her] popularity among the Burmese people.” 

Myanmar’s Cardinal Charles Bo has been an outspoken voice for his country and a significant influence on the Vatican. Earlier this year, Cardinal Bo said Myanmar faced an “unprecedented state of turmoil and suffering, which seems to have no end.”

Two days ago, the cardinal also spoke out about the recent floods, saying “the situation is truly dire.” Since Sept. 9, he explained, “heavy monsoon rains and the remnants of Typhoon Yagi have caused severe flooding across central Myanmar.”

An estimated 887,000 people, including those displaced by conflict, have been affected by the floods in 65 townships. “The damage to infrastructure, livelihoods, and vital public services has been catastrophic,” he said.

Cardinal Bo called on the people of Myanmar to stand united and resilient. “The road to recovery will be long and arduous, but with faith, compassion, and collective action, we will overcome these challenges,” he said.

He urged the international community to extend support and solidarity to the people of Myanmar, emphasizing the urgent need for humanitarian assistance and long-term investment in building resilience. 

“Together, we can restore hope and transform the lives of those affected by this disaster,” he said. In this and in the broader struggle for his country’s future, he can be assured that he has the pope’s ear as well as his prayers and support.

But Cardinal Bo, as president of the Federation of Asian Bishops Conferences, has also been consistently outspoken for Jimmy Lai and Hong Kong, joining other Christian leaders in 2022 in calling for his release, issuing a strong statement condemning the arrest of his fellow Salesian Cardinal Joseph Zen and calling for prayer for Hong Kong following the imposition of the draconian National Security Law in 2020.

He has also called for China to be held culpable for Covid-19, spoken out for the Uyghurs and called for an annual, global week of prayer for China.

The Vatican would do well to listen to one of the Church’s most senior Asian cardinals, not only on the crisis in his home country of Myanmar but also on the grave challenges posed by China.

Addressing a young Burmese Jesuit who asked, “We have lost life, family, dreams and future... how can we not lose hope?” Francis replied: “There are good young people fighting for their homeland. In Myanmar today you cannot be silent, you have to do something… The future of your country must be peace, based on respect for the dignity and rights of all, on respect for a democratic order that allows each person to contribute to the common good.”

The pope is absolutely right about Myanmar and his interventions and prayers are very welcome. I pray he would be equally outspoken and prayerful for “respect for the dignity and rights of all” in China, Tibet, Xinjiang, and Hong Kong.

The same generous offer of refuge in the Vatican for a brave, imprisoned, septuagenarian democracy leader from Myanmar should also be extended to a brave, imprisoned, septuagenarian democracy leader from Hong Kong.

The pope’s message should be consistent: Free Aung San Suu Kyi, Free Jimmy Lai.

*The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official editorial position of UCA News.