Army Burns Catholic Church and Convent to the Ground in Myanmar
The Burmese army torched a historic Catholic church in the Archdiocese of Mandalay this week and also set fire to a convent of religious sisters.

The Burmese army torched a historic Catholic church in the Archdiocese of Mandalay this week and also set fire to a convent of religious sisters.
Facebook (now known as Meta) is facing new calls from Amnesty International to pay reparations to the Rohingya people for the company’s alleged role in inciting ethnic violence in Myanmar.
Chinese-owned companies in Myanmar are allegedly responsible for illegal mining operations that are destroying the natural landscape of Myanmar’s border region with China, local miners of dysprosium and terbium — two heavy rare earth minerals used in clean energy products and smart electronics — told the organization Global Witness for a report published on Tuesday.
The president of the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences has condemned the arrest of Cardinal Joseph Zen, accusing Hong Kong of having become a “police state.”
Some 40 soldiers of the ruling military junta raided the Catholic Cathedral of the Sacred Heart in Mandalay, Myanmar, Friday, detaining Archbishop Marco Tin Win and dozens of the faithful.
Pope Francis has once again called for an end to violence in Myanmar, marking the one-year anniversary of the February 1 military coup with prayers for peace.
The junta that took control of Myanmar last February has relentlessly targeted Christian clergy and places of worship. Radio Free Asia (RFA) on Monday quoted human rights activists who said it has arrested at least nine Christian leaders, subsequently killing five.
Myanmar’s Cardinal Charles Bo has pleaded for an end to violence in the country following the brutal massacre of dozens of villagers on Christmas Day.
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) named China the world’s worst jailer of journalists on Thursday, the third year in a row that the host of the upcoming 2022 Winter Olympics has taken the title.
A $372 million sum Myanmar’s government received from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in February for pandemic relief has “gone missing” since a military junta seized control in a coup just two days after the aid was issued, Coconuts Yangon reported Wednesday.
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) announced over the weekend that General Min Aung Hlaing, leader of the military junta in Myanmar, will not be invited to the association’s October 26-28 summit. The unprecedented snub of Gen. Hlaing was welcomed by the Burmese opposition, which asked ASEAN to go even further and invite a representative from the civilian shadow government.
Unidentified gunmen on Wednesday shot and killed Mohib Ullah, a high-profile advocate for the Rohingya, at a refugee camp for the Muslim minority group in Bangladesh, local police confirmed to Reuters on Thursday.
A magistrate judge in Washington, D.C. on Thursday ordered social media giant Facebook to turn over records pertaining to accounts that were shuttered in 2018 because they were linked to violence committed against the Rohingya Muslims of Myanmar.
Communist officials in China’s Yunnan province forcibly quarantined over 5,000 residents of Jiegao district this week.
China is building a wall along its 1,400-mile border with Myanmar allegedly to help protect it from an alleged influx of the Chinese coronavirus, the South China Morning Post reported on Thursday.
Norway’s Telenor is selling its subsidiary in Myanmar, where it is one of the major operators, as a result of the military coup.
Chinese government authorities locked down the southern city of Ruili, located along China’s border with Myanmar, on Monday to contain a new cluster of Chinese coronavirus infections detected in the municipality over the weekend, the state-run Global Times reported.
Cardinal Charles Maung Bo lamented Sunday the fate of the people of Myanmar “tossed in the stormy seas of man-made disaster” following the February 1 military coup d’état.
Pope Francis has joined the bishops of Myanmar (Burma) in calling for the opening of humanitarian corridors in conflict-torn Myanmar.
The Catholic bishops of Myanmar have urged the military to stop targeting places of worship, which have suffered repeated attacks in past weeks.
Social justice and politics took center stage at a Miss Universe pageant, where contestants unveiled their outfits, riddled with political messages.
Pope Francis urged Myanmar Catholics Sunday to be steadfast in faith in the midst of “violence, conflict, and repression.”
Myanmar Cardinal Charles Bo has urged Christians around the world to unite in praying for the Chinese people during the week of May 23-30.
Burmese poet Khet Thi, an ardent opponent of the junta that seized control of Myanmar from its elected civilian government in February, was arrested by regime forces on Saturday along with his wife Chaw Su.
The Vatican announced Monday that Pope Francis will celebrate a special Mass in Saint Peter’s Basilica for all Myanmar Catholics who live in Rome.
The military junta in Myanmar on Thursday arrested 24-year-old model and actor Paing Takhon, hailed as “the most handsome person in Southeast Asia” by fans, because he criticized the coup.
Myanmar´s ambassador to the UK, who has criticized the military coup in his country, says he has been locked out of his embassy by colleagues.
A week after news reports began surfacing of a growing Chinese coronavirus outbreak in southern Yunnan province, Chinese state media confirmed Thursday that the Communist Party chief in Ruili, the city where the outbreak began, lost his job for “serious negligence in epidemic control.”
Security forces loyal to the Myanmar junta opened fire in several locations Wednesday, killing 13 protesters. The incident resulted in the burning of a Chinese-owned factory in the city of Yangon.
Myanmar pro-democracy demonstrators have adopted the Christian practice of painting Easter eggs to symbolize their protest against the nation’s military coup.
The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), a Thailand-based human rights nonprofit organization, said on Friday that at least 43 children have been killed during the coup in Myanmar, 15 of them younger than age 16.
Chinese authorities have locked down the Myanmar border city of Ruili to contain a surging number of new coronavirus cases.
Security forces in Myanmar killed at least 114 protesters on Saturday as demonstrations against the February 1 military coup that ousted Myanmar’s top government officials continued over the weekend.
China’s state-run Global Times reported Sunday that Chinese rare-earth companies are discovering they can no longer secure their supplies easily from Myanmar, a major Chinese supplier whose civilian government fell to a military coup last month.
BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union is set to slap sanctions on 11 officials in Myanmar (Burma) accused of involvement in the military coup and the violent crackdown on protesters that followed, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said Monday.
Pope Francis launched an appeal for an end to the armed conflict in Myanmar Wednesday, urging all parties to embrace a peaceful solution.
Chinese state media on Monday estimated $26 million in damage from the vandalism of Chinese-owned businesses in Yangon, Myanmar this weekend by protesters angry at Beijing’s support for the military junta.
Protesters in Myanmar vandalized dozens of Chinese-owned factories over the weekend, setting at least four garment factories and a fertilizer plant on fire.
President Joe Biden is providing Temporary Protected Status (TPS) to more than a thousand nationals from Burma, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced days ago.
Wednesday saw the largest protests to date against the coup in Myanmar, despite a ban on large gatherings imposed by the military. Many of the demonstrators gathered outside the Chinese embassy in the city of Yangon and accused China of supporting the junta, or even using the junta as puppets so Beijing could take control of Myanmar.