SW News: Pope Francis has fervently pleaded for a stop to the bloodshed in Myanmar where a Catholic church was recently torched by the military. Following his Sunday Angelus address to the faithful gathered in St. Peter's Square, the Pope expressed his sorrow for the tragic events occurring in Myanmar, recalling in particular, the attacks on places of worship, including the recent arson and destruction of the Catholic Church of Our Lady of the Assumption in Chan Thar, one of the oldest and most significant places of worship in the nation.

The Pope expressed his closeness to the suffering civilians in many cities and hoped for an early resolution of the conflict so that a new era of forgiveness, love, and peace may usher in. Following that, he requested everyone in the Square join him in saying a Hail Mary for Myanmar.

Human Rights Watch stated in its World Report 2023 that since the military coup in February 2021, Myanmar's regime has committed war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Mass executions, arbitrary imprisonment and arrest, torture, sexual assault, and assaults on civilians in crisis zones have all been linked to the security forces. The junta has seriously impeded the distribution of humanitarian aid to communities most in need amid a post-coup economic catastrophe.

The Pope also decried violence in Ukraine and Peru, while expressing his hope that steps toward peace can continue to come out of Cameroon. The global response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine serves as a powerful reminder of the enormous potential that arises when national governments uphold their global human rights duties. All nations, large and small, have a duty to incorporate a human rights framework into their policies and then cooperate to uphold and advance those rights.

Meanwhile, Cardinal Charles Bo of Yangon, Archbishop Marco Tin Wan of Mandalay, and Archbishop Basilio Athai of Taunggyi, all Metropolitan Archbishops of Myanmar, have made an impassioned call for peace in their nation, urging that all of us need to walk the pilgrimage of peace.

The Archbishops said that international documents like the Hague Convention call for the preservation of places of worship, sites of study, and places of healing and they express their sadness and agony by pondering why these hallowed places are assaulted and destroyed?" They suggest that houses of worship foster the interdependence and sense of interconnectedness that are required for the nation to heal.