Cardinal highlights situation of Rohingya refugees during visit to Bangladesh
DHAKA – Millions of refugees currently in Bangladesh was a major concern for Cardinal Michael Felix Czerny, the Vatican’s Prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, during his visit to the South Asian nation this week.
During a press conference at the CBCB Center in the capital Dhaka on Nov. 4, Czerny said he met with Rohingya refugees in Cox’s Bazar.
The Rohingya are a Muslim minority living in the Buddhist-majority state of Myanmar, and have long faced oppression.
Most of the Rohingya at the Bangladesh camps have arrived from Myanmar since August 2017, when the military began conducting clearance operations after a series of rebel attacks in Myanmar’s Rakhine state. The Rohingya are Muslims and have long faced discrimination in Buddhist-majority Myanmar, including being denied citizenship since 1982.
The military coup in Myanmar in February 2021 further heightened their vulnerability.
The population density of the camps is staggering: About 103,600 per square mile, more than 40 times the average population density in Bangladesh as a whole – and it is one of the most crowded countries on earth.
Refugees live in side-by-side plastic huts, each just a little larger than 100 square feet, and some holding a dozen residents.
Czerny made a visit to Bangladesh from Nov. 1-4, meeting with internal migrants in Narayanganj, and the Rohingya refugees in Cox’s Bazar.
“Both situations are extremely challenging. For those in the camps, being stateless, unemployed, and confined for years is intolerable,” the cardinal said at his press conference.
He told journalists it is a real shame that the international community has not been able to provide a solution to the Rohingya problem.
“But I hope it will be solved,” he added.
He emphasized the importance of dialogue in addressing migration issues.
“We must maintain dialogue with authorities. We never want to close the door. Exchange of viewpoints can help find solutions within a country or more broadly,” Czerny said.
The cardinal urged the global community to show greater solidarity with Rohingya refugees amid the declining attention and funding cuts.
“The situation is very difficult, with less global attention and reduced aid. The world should show more solidarity, not less. All organizations — Christian and others — must respond to real needs and continue supporting those who suffer. We are helping, and we must continue to help,” the cardinal said.
Christians make up less than one percent of more than 160 million people in Muslim-majority Bangladesh. Of estimated 600,000 Christians, Catholics are majority with some 400,000 members.
On Nov. 4, Czerny inaugurated a 50-year glorious jubilee for the Justice and Peace Commission of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference, along with Bishop Gervas Rozario, chairperson of the Justice and Peace commission, and other archbishops and bishops.
“Our hope is sustained and nourished synodality,” he said.
“Synodality is the walking together of Christians with Christ and towards God’s Kingdom, in union with all humanity. Oriented towards mission, synodality involves gathering at all levels of the Church for mutual listening, dialogue, and community discernment,” the cardinal added.
“This is the way that the Church in this 21st century is always and everywhere called to work for integral human development,” he continued.
He also engaged with street and deprived children to celebrate the Jubilee of the poor for offering solidarity and compassion. Czerny itinerary included interfaith prayer, family visits, and meetings with children’s centers.
The cardinal thanks to Justice and Peace Commission for their contributions to the children, for the indigenous peoples, and offer of pastoral work.
The Bangladesh Catholic Church says it hopes this pastoral visit by the cardinal will help them to foster dialogue among religious communities in the country, especially since the country is religiously diverse. The Catholic Church seeks more support or encouragement to partner in ensuring human development, like education, health, or aid to the poor.
“The church-affiliated social services might receive more impetus, funding, or legitimacy,” Holy Cross Father Hubert Gomes, secretary of the Justice of Peace Commission, told Crux.