His Eminence Cardinal Oswald Gracias, the Archbishop of Mumbai and also the President of the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences (FABC) recalled his visits with Holy Father Pope Francis to the Asian countries including Myanmar and Bangladesh. His Lordship Cardinal Oswald Gracias highlighted that Pope’s pastoral visit to these Asian countries as a message and emphasized that His Holiness Pope Francis chooses to visit the weaker churches. His Lordship Cardinal was speaking to C Coutinho of Vatican News during his recent visit to Rome.
As reported by Vatican radio, His Eminence Cardinal Gracias remarked that “The Asian countries Pope visited earlier marked a special event such as the Asian Youth Day in Korea, Canonization of St. Joseph Vaz in Sri Lanka but Myanmar and Bangladesh had no joyful event as these but the backdrop of the Refugees crisis. The Pope’s visit to these countries in distress was like a brother reaching out to a brother in agony.”
His Eminence Cardinal Gracias also pointed out that Bangladesh was a model of interreligious collaboration and said that Pope’s visit to both Myanmar and Bangladesh was very successful yet challenging.
