HONG KONG (SE): “The presence of God today is also called Rohingya,” Pope Francis said on December 1. The BBC reported that the pope’s unscripted comment was made during an interfaith meeting in Dhaka during his visit to Bangladesh when he also met with a group of Rohingya refugees and listened to their stories.
 
“In the name of all of those who have persecuted you, hurt you, I ask forgiveness,” the pope asked the refugees. “I appeal to your large hearts to give us the forgiveness that we are asking.”
 
Coming a day after the conclusion of his visit to Myanmar, this marked the first time he referred to the country’s persecuted minority by name. During a speech on November 28 alongside Myanmar’s state councillor, Aung San Suu Kyi, Pope Francis did not use the term Rohingya despite hopes he would do so, disappointing rights advocates suggested the pope was complicit by not using the term while he was in Myanmar, CNN reported.
 
Speaking to reporters on the flight back to Rome from Dhaka on December 2, the pope explained that Pope Francis explained that he did not want to risk shutting down dialogue with the country’s leaders and said his chief concern had been to get a point across.
 
“If I would have used the word, the door would have closed,” he told reporters.
 
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