Catholics marked the third anniversary of the military coup which overthrew Myanmar’s elected civilian government with prayers for “a time of peace, justice and freedom for the nation”.
Reports described widespread Eucharistic adoration and recitation of the Rosary on 1 February, while Mass in St Mary’s Church in Yangon included prayers “for those who have been unjustly arrested, for those who have fled persecution, for all internally displaced persons who live in distress or have lost contact with their family members”.
Missionary orders and groups with members in Myanmar – including the Columbans – joined international online meetings to pray for peace.
Bishop Tom Neylon, an auxiliary in the Archdiocese of Liverpool who leads on Asia for the bishops of England and Wales, issued a prayer recalling the words of Myanmar’s Cardinal Charles Bo: “Faith shines a light on the path through life’s darkest and most tumultuous moments, allowing us to see God’s grace penetrating the shadows.”
Neylon prayed “that glimmers of light may illumine the dark night of conflict”.
Church sources report that the military have bombed displaced people’s camps, clinics, hospitals, schools, churches, and temples in its war against rebels since 2021. The predominantly Christian areas of Kachin, Kayah, Chin and Karen states have been targeted in bombing campaigns.
A new report shortly before the anniversary recorded the scale of suffering in Chin state. Fighting has seriously affected Christians and their places of worship in the state, according to the “Myanmar Witness” project of the UK-based Centre for Information Resilience.
The report, published on 24 January, analysed airstrikes in Chin state in 2023. “These examples indicate how conflict across Chin is affecting churches – sites that come under special protection under international Hague conventions,” it said.
There is “a sustained and long-term impact on the Christian population of Chin state” and day-to-day activities “are disrupted as a result of the conflict”.
Attacks by Myanmar’s air force have destroyed at least 100 religious sites, including 55 Christian institutions, since the coup.
“The destruction of Christian churches is deliberate to inflict psychological trauma on a specific religious and cultural community,” according to the Chin Human Rights Organisation.
The mountainous state, where around 478,000 people – 85 per cent of the population – are Christians, has been at the centre of resistance to the junta.
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