Kawkareik: Father William’s 16- strong flock on Myanmar’s eastern border is one of the Catholic Church’s tiniest outposts, but next week they will join a tide of 200,000 faithful in Yangon for a historic mass led by Pope Francis.

The Pope, renowned for powerful entreaties for peace no matter how highly-charged the issue, arrives on Monday in a country on the defensive over its treatment of the Rohingya Muslim minority.

Some 620,000 Rohingya have been driven from western Rakhine state to Bangladesh since August, prompting allegations of ethnic cleansing of the stateless minority.

While Pope Francis’ visit is inevitably framed by the crisis, Father William Hla Myint Oo says it will not overshadow the momentous event.

The compact congregation of Kawkareik, just three families and several church volunteers, will join the priest for the eight-hour drive to Yangon.

“We’re very excited,” says the priest, who moved to the remote outpost in Karen state, near Myanmar’s eastern border, just five months ago.

“(The pope’s) visit to see us — a minority — gives us a real lift and strengthens our spirit.”.
It is the first ever papal visit to a Buddhist-majority nation, whose estimated 700,000 Catholics represent just over one per cent of the population.

Kawkareik, a town in Karen state of 40,000 people, sits in the foothills of mountains tracing the border with Thailand.

Karen is famed for its tree-clad limestone hills topped by pagodas that attest to the dominance of Buddhism.
The church, discreetly tucked behind high walls, has yet to host a wedding or a christening, giving its pastoral leader little work.

But the Yangon-born priest says the occasional flutters of boredom or loneliness have been dispelled by the Pope’s looming visit.

Maria Maung Lone, a spry 73-year-old worshipper, is equally delighted at the guest from the Vatican.

“None of my ancestors have ever done this,” he says with a wide smile. “We’re so lucky that we have this chance.” There have been Catholics in Myanmar for over 500 years, the religion brought by Portuguese traders from their Indian settlement in Goa.

But it was not until the 18th Century that the country became a mission territory, even if spreading the Catholic word was not always been easy.

(india.com)