Francis lands in Myanmar, beginning delicate visit in midst of Rohingya crisis

Pope Francis has become the first pontiff to travel to Myanmar, landing here Nov. 27 for a three-day visit as the majority Buddhist nation is facing international outcry over its persecution of a minority Rohingya Muslim population.

Almost immediately upon arrival, the pope made a change to his schedule for his visit here, moving ahead a meeting with Myanmar's top military leader by three days and making the encounter his first official appointment in the country.

Francis met with Senior General Min Aung Hlaing during the evening of Nov. 27, in what Vatican spokesman Greg Burke called a 15-minute courtesy visit in which the pope and the general "spoke of the great responsibility of the country's authorities in this moment of transition."

Francis is visiting Myanmar Nov. 27-30 before heading to neighboring Bangladesh, where the U.N. says some 537,000 Rohingya have fled from violence in Myanmar's western state of Rakhine.

The Myanmar military says it launched operations against the Rohingya earlier in the year following insurgent attacks in Rakhine. The top U.N. human rights official, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, said in September that the military operations were "clearly disproportionate" to the original insurgent attacks and had resulted in "a textbook example of ethnic cleansing."

While Myanmar began a process of democratic reforms in 2015 after a half-century of military rule, the armed forces still have substantial power in the nation, including control of 25 percent of the seats in Parliament.

The meeting between the pope and the general took place at the archbishop’s residence in Yangon, where Francis is staying. Four other military officers also took part, and a representative from the Catholic Church in Myanmar provided translation.

Francis had originally been scheduled to meet with Hlaing on Nov. 30, following meetings with de facto Prime Minister Aung San Suu Kyi and other political leaders.

When the pope arrived in Yangon earlier Nov. 27, a small delegation of about a dozen schoolchildren dressed in traditional clothes and most of the country's 22 bishops met him on the tarmac at the airport after his 10-hour overnight flight from Rome.

Hundreds of other schoolchildren, dressed in white t-shirts, waving yellow flags and chanting "Viva il Papa," lined the streets outside the airport as Francis headed into central Yangon in an older model blue Toyota sedan.

The pontiff begins his six-day, two country foreign voyage with a delicate diplomatic mission ahead.

Human rights advocates want the pontiff to confront Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, over her country's treatment of the Rohingya. But local church leaders have advised him to refrain while in the country from specifically mentioning the Rohingya by name, for fear of reprisals from Myanmar's military.