SW News: In May, the month dedicated to Our Lady, Catholics from parishes all across Myanmar are praying the rosary and asking for Mary's help to restore peace to the turbulent country.

According to the organizers, numerous believers visit Marian grottoes in the evening to pray for world peace and to recite the rosary.

The Kalay diocese in Myanmar has set up a pilgrimage program that involves going to churches and praying for peace in the troubled Southeast Asian country. Kalay is one of the worst affected along with Kayah, Pekhon, Hakha, and Mandalay among the 16 dioceses in the country.

The military junta has been attacking civilians with airstrikes and artillery fire since assuming power in February 2021. Pro-democracy activists said some 83 churches have been destroyed in Myanmar in the more than two years since Aung San Suu Kyi's government was overthrown.

Although the military junta claims to be battling the People's Defence Forces, which are waging an armed campaign against the military coup, churches, convents, and historic Catholic villages continue to be top targets for them in the largely Christian regions of the Chin, Kayah, Kachin, and Karen states.

Church sources have reported that a military bombardment destroyed a Catholic church in the Pekhon diocese, which includes southern Shan state, on May 6, and an aerial bombing struck a Baptist church in Chin state on May 2.
An estimated 53.5 million people call Myanmar home, and 87.9% of them are Buddhists. Catholics make up 1.24 percent of the 6.2 percent of people who identify as Christians and are distributed across 16 dioceses, including three archdioceses.

In Myanmar, where Buddhism accounts for nearly 90% of the people, there is a linkage between religion and ethnicity: the Bamars, who make up the majority of the population, are linked to Buddhism, while ethnic minorities are linked to other religions. Christians have long been recognized as being disloyal to the government since they are perceived as having a Western influence. It is reported that laws have been passed to promote Buddhism.