In Myanmar rockets against the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart

Last night, Tuesday 9 November, some rockets and heavy weapons bullets fired by soldiers of the Burmese army hit the Catholic Cathedral of the Sacred Heart, in the diocese of Pekhon, located in the southern part of Shan State, in Eastern Myanmar.

"An execrable act, to be condemned," he said father Julio Oo, priest of the diocese of Pekhon to Fides. "The church complex - he continues - is a place of refuge and security in the generalized instability of a violent conflict, given that, while there is fighting in the area, hundreds of local people are taking refuge in the Cathedral complex".

While local resistance militias are fighting the army 8 miles from the city, “such acts of gratuitous violence against civilians and places of worship increase frustration and youth protest against the army. We are worried: churches are becoming more and more targets of attacks for military forces ”, added the priest.

According to local sources in the Christian community, the army could target churches purposely because "they are the nucleus of the community, by destroying them, the soldiers want to destroy the hope of the people".

The population in the diocese of Pekhon is about 340 thousand inhabitants (many belonging to ethnic minorities such as Shan, Pa-Oh, Intha, Kayan, Kayah) and there are about 55 Catholics.

In other separate episodes, the Myanmar military has in recent days devastated and burned houses and a Baptist church in the village of Ral Ti of the municipality of Falam in the Burmese state of Chin. In clearing the rubble, a village Baptist pastor and community members miraculously found the Bible and hymn book intact. The army also burned 134 homes in the city of Thang Tlang, also in Chin state, setting fire to two other Christian churches, one Presbyterian and one Baptist, in retaliation against local rebels.