Pope speaks in Bangladesh, omits using the term 'Rohingya Muslims'

Pope Francis landed in Bangladesh on Thursday after a diplomatically sensitive trip to neighbouring Myanmar.

In his first speech, he once again failed to address by name Rohingya Muslims, referring to the persecuted Myanmar minority as "refugees from Rakhine state."

Francis called for "decisive" international measures on the Rohingya refugee crisis, where more than 620,000 of the Muslim minority have sought sanctuary after fleeing violence in Myanmar.

"It is imperative that the international community take decisive measures to address this grave crisis, not only by working to resolve the political issues that have led to the mass displacement of people, but also by offering immediate material assistance to Bangladesh in its effort to respond effectively to urgent human needs," the pope said in a speech.

TRT World's Shamim Chowdhury reports on their plight.

Contentious visit

Bangladesh is hoping the Catholic pontiff's visit, during which the pope will meet a group of Rohingya in Dhaka, will help pressure the international community to find a lasting solution to the periodic influx of Rohingya from neighbouring Myanmar and the current crisis in the latter's Rakhine state which the UN has called ethnic cleansing.

Francis has so far refrained from speaking out about Asia's worst humanitarian crisis in decades out of diplomatic deference to his hosts in Myanmar.

The Vatican has defended the pope's silence, saying the spiritual leader of the world's 1.3 billion Catholics wants to "build bridges" with the predominantly Buddhist nation.

But human rights groups and Rohingya themselves have expressed disappointment that Francis, an advocate for refugees and the world's most marginal, refrained from condemning what the UN has said is a textbook case of ethnic cleansing.

Many in Buddhist-majority Myanmar consider the Rohingya as migrants from Bangladesh. Many Rohingya are denied citizenship as a result, despite having lived in Myanmar for generations.

Vatican spokesman Greg Burke said Francis took seriously the advice given to him by the local Catholic Church, which urged him to not even refer to the "Rohingya" by name during his trip.

"You can criticise what's said, what's not said, but the pope is not going to lose moral authority on this question here," Burke said.

A persecuted minority

Rohingya have faced persecution and discrimination in Myanmar for decades.

The situation grew worse in later August when the army began what it called clearance operations in northern Rakhine state following attacks on security positions by Rohingya militants.

More than 620,000 Rohingya have since poured into refugee camps in neighbouring Bangladesh, where they have described indiscriminate attacks by Myanmar security forces and Buddhist mobs, including killings, rapes and the torching of entire villages.

Burke stressed that Pope Francis' diplomatic stance in public in Myanmar didn't negate what he had said in the past, or what he might be saying in private.

In the past, the pope has strongly condemned the "persecution of our Rohingya brothers," denounced their suffering because of their faith and called for them to receive "full rights."

While Francis called in his first major speech on Tuesday for all of Myanmar's ethnic groups to have their human rights respected, his failure to specify the Rohingya crisis on Myanmar soil drew criticism from Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and Rohingya themselves.