羅馬天主教宗與昂山素季見面

Pope Francis is meeting Tuesday with Myanmar's civilian leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, a day after the country's military chief said he told the pontiff that there is "no religious discrimination" in Myanmar.

The United Nations and the United States have accused Myanmar's military of "ethnic cleansing" in violence against Rohingya Muslims, and Aung San Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, has faced criticism for her response to the crisis.

"We can't say whether it has happened or not," she said last week when asked about rights abuses. "As a responsibility of the government, we have to make sure that it won't happen."

Pope Francis met with the military chief, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, on Monday as he began his trip to the southeast Asian country to discuss the violence in Rakhine state that has caused over 620,000 Rohingya to flee into neighboring Bangladesh.

"Myanmar has no religious discrimination at all," Min Aung Hlaing said in a Facebook post by his office. "Likewise our military too... (it) performs for the peace and stability of the country."

After the 15 minute meeting, Vatican spokesman Greg Burke said the two "discussed the great responsibility of authorities of the country in this time of transition" before exchanging gifts.

Thousands of Myanmar's nearly 700,000 Catholics traveled to greet the Pope as he landed in Yangon, and more than 150,000 have registered to attend a Mass he will hold on Wednesday, according to Catholic Myanmar Church spokesman Mariano Soe Naing.羅馬天主教宗方濟各星期二與緬甸文職領導人昂山素季見面。一天前，緬甸的軍事首腦說，他告訴教宗方濟各，緬甸沒有宗教歧視。

聯合國和美國指稱緬甸軍隊對羅興亞穆斯林展開暴力的種族清洗。諾貝爾和平獎得主昂山素季由於她對這場危機的反應而面臨批評。

昂山素季上星期被問到侵犯人權的問題時回答說：“我們不能說這究竟是否真地發生了。作爲政府，我們有責任確保它將不會發生。”

教宗方濟各星期一開始訪問緬甸，當天會見了緬甸軍事首腦敏昂萊。方濟各要討論緬甸若開邦的暴力。暴力導致62萬多羅興亞人逃到臨近的孟加拉國。

緬甸國防軍總司令敏昂萊(Min Aung Hlaing)大將在他的官方臉書上發文說：“緬甸根本沒有宗教歧視，我們軍隊也是一樣，所做的是維護國家的和平與穩定。”

15分鐘的會晤結束之後，梵蒂岡發言人格雷格·伯克說，他們二人 “談到了國家政權在這個過渡時期肩負的重大責任”，隨後互贈禮物。

緬甸天主教會發言人馬里亞諾·索·奈英說，緬甸將近70萬天主教徒中有成千上萬人星期一到仰光歡迎教宗方濟各乘飛機抵達，超過15萬人登記參加教宗星期三的佈道。