Pope
Francis’s apostolic journey to Bangladesh (Nov. 30-Dec. 2) is highly expected
to be welcoming, joyful and peaceful, unlike his somewhat prickly trip to ethnically
and religiously divided Myanmar days before.
Pope
Paul VI made few hours stopover in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) on Nov. 26,
1970 to express sympathy for victims of a devastating cyclone, on his way to
the Philippines.
Pope John
Paul II’s visit to the country on Nov. 19, 1986 is the first and only visit by
a pope since 1971 Bangladesh independence from Pakistan.
JP II’s
visit was a historic moment for Bangladesh, especially for minority Christians.
In fact, many didn’t even know there were local Christians other than “white
Westerners” in the country before the papal visit!
During
the visit John Paul II made some unforgettable, symbolic gestures.
Landing
at Dhaka airport, the pope kissed the ground, saying, “I have come as a pilgrim
to the soul of Bangladesh!” During a Holy Mass in a Dhaka stadium, the pope
said he was glad to visit “his tiny flock” referring to Christian minority.
Pope
Francis’ visit is a cause of celebration Bangladesh-Vatican relations of the
past 46 years. Vatican
was among the first countries to recognize independent Bangladesh, which was
followed by setting up full diplomatic relations in 1973.
Unlike
his predecessors, Pope Francis’s longer presence and interactions with various
groups of people will have lasting impacts on lives of country’s people cutting
across religions and ethnicities.
Pope’s priorities:
peripheries, poor and marginalized
Since
his election in 2013, Pope Francis has been a vocal critic of diabolic
globalization that makes the rich richer and the poor even poorer.
He
is the most prolific advocate for people in the margins—the poor, migrants,
refugees and minorities, and also called upon the world to denounce the
“throwaway culture” that inflicts endless miseries these communities.
Bangladesh
has made significant strides in poverty reduction in past two decades,
plummeting from about 50 percent in 1990s to about 25 percent today. An
overpopulated nation of 160 million crammed into just 147,470 square
kilometers, Bangladesh is nearly self-sufficient in staple food—rice.
Yet,
there is a long way to go.
According
to World Food Program, nearly a quarter of the populations still live below the
poverty line, earing less than 2 dollars a day, and most of them are highly
food insecure.
Social
inequality is dominant due to its feudal social structure still controlled by
the rich and powerful and a constantly widening wealth disparity between the
rich and the poor. The nation has rampant institutional corruption that
inflicts miseries on the poor and marginalized communities.
While
Pope might take note of how Bangladesh has reduced poverty in the past years,
he might also advocate on how the poor and the powerless can receive more
attention and empowerment, while despising inequality and injustice.
Pope’s
visit comes at a time when world’s attention is fixated on plight of more than
600,000 Rohingya Muslims who fled to Bangladesh since Aug. 25 violence at their
home in Rakhine state of Myanmar.
Like
the world, Bangladeshis will be closely watching when pope visits Myanmar days
before. Whether he speaks in favor of this beleaguered community in public or
private will be seriously followed. Bangladeshis will expect the pontiff to
laud the nation for allowing and sheltering Rohingya refugees and appeal the
international community for a peaceful, lasting solution to end plight of
Rohingya and to assist the nation as long as they are not repatriated.
Harmony and peace
The
motto of pope’s visit is “harmony and peace.”
Bangladesh
has been seen as a model of tolerant culture and religious harmony. Majority Muslims
in here follow a liberal form of Islam and adhere to religious pluralism.
Yet,
violent extremism has emerged in recent times, which tainted Bangladesh’s image
and threatened the peaceful, pluralistic landscape.
Apart
from global radical phenomenon, extremist Islam exported by countries like
Saudi Arabia, and cyber terrorism, religious extremism has found own grounds to
thrive.
First
of all, it’s a bloody legacy of military rulers of 1975-1990, when religion was
exploited and Islamist politics was revived for consolidation of power and
political expediency.
Since
return to democracy, extremism has gained momentum amid rivalry between
political parties, lack of oversight of hundreds of radical mosques and
madrasas, and collusion of religion and politics.
Christians,
especially Catholic Church pioneered interfaith and ecumenical dialogue since
1960s, which is still very strong. This dialogue can be the best weapon against
a world plagued by insane extremism.
Pope
Francis is aware about Bangladesh’s ethnic and religious landscape as well it’s
pluralistic society. He is mostly likely to recognize that despite the odds
Bangladesh is doing great to maintain harmony and peace, and also might advise
country’s leaders what else can be done.
Pulse of the youth
Pope
Francis will convene the first-ever Synod of Bishops on Youth in Rome in
October 2018, in order look at “how the Church needs to change its ways of doing things so
we can be more attuned to the voice and to the hearts of the young.”
On
various occasions, Pope has pointed that young people are future of the church
as well as the world.
On
Dec. 1, Pope will speak at a gathering of thousands of youths—Christians and
non-Christians in Dhaka. This occasion will give the pontiff an opportunity to
examine the pulse of young people at this ultra-modern, increasingly secular world.
Bangladeshi
youths face a host of challenges including poverty, unemployment, breakdown of
family and social relationships and negative influence of satellite and digital
culture.
These
are contributing factors behind their growing frustration, and alienation from
family, society and traditional religious institutes. They are attracted to
destructive paths including crime and militancy. The July 1, 2016 deadly Dhaka
café attack is a stark reminder of brutal violence frustrated and isolated
youths can do.
What
message of hope and encouragement Pope would deliver to the youth, who are facing
the crucial period of their life remain to be seen.
And
it will also be a curious case to watch how effectively the pope can utilize
this encounter to make up his mind and heart in run up to the Synod of Youth
next year.
Climate change
Bangladesh
is one of the most vulnerable countries for climate change impacts. Its unique
geographical location at the floodplains of world’s largest river delta system,
just about 12 meter above the sea level—makes it an innocent victim of natural
calamities like flooding, river erosion and cyclone the kills and displace many
every year.
Climate
scientists says that a predicated sea level rise by 2050 would wipe out entire
coastal region of Bangladesh and displace up to 20 million people.
The
pope is expected to highlight vulnerability of Bangladesh as well as of other
poor nations over climate change as he did in his groundbreaking encyclical, Laudato Si.
The
pontiff is likely to appeal international community to support various climate
change mitigation and adaptation projects undertaken in Bangladesh.
Contributions of
Christians
Pope’s
journey to Bangladesh comes in the year marking 500th anniversary of
advent of Christianity in this land by European Christian merchants in 1517.
From
a humble beginning, Catholic Church has grown steadily through tireless efforts
of Christian missionaries. Today, there are about 375,000 Catholics in
country’s eight dioceses including two archdioceses. Besides, there are about
40 Protestant churches with an estimated 225,000 followers.
Christians
have played significant role in the nation building. Catholic Church runs 1
university, 10 colleges, 500 secondary and junior schools and about 1,000
primary schools. The Church also runs more than 100 medical clinics including
10 hospitals, mostly in rural areas. Catholic charity Caritas is one of the
largest voluntary organizations focusing on development of poor and
marginalized communities.
Catholic
and Protestant missioners have also immensely contributed in development and
standardization of Bangla language and literature.
Despite
big contributions, Christians remain low profile, as they don’t have strong
socio-economic and political influence in the state due to their miniscule
minority status.
Pope
Francis has raised profile of Christians in Bangladesh when he made Archbishop
Patrick D’Rozario of Dhaka country’s first ever Cardinal last year.
And
now, with coming the pontiff will have the opportunity to highlight big contributions
of Christian community.
He
is likely to take on some sporadic challenges Christians, especially Catholics,
face in terms land dispute, political scapegoating and slow-burning
persecution.
In
recent months, churches and Christian groups have been facing difficulties in
receiving foreign donations for their activities as the government has changed
Foreign Donations Act. It requires everyone to get rigorous permission from NGO
Affairs Bureau to receive foreign funds. The move is primarily aimed to control
“suspicious foreign exchange flow” to non-government agencies, some of those
have been accused of “terror financing” in the country that has seen a spike in
violent radicalism in the recent years.
Also,
there is a lack of knowledge among government officials on Church mechanism. Often
Dhaka is considered as headquarter of the local church and gets preferential
treatment for civil and political entities. It poses challenges for Churches
based in other parts of the country.
Politics and human rights
Pope
Francis enters Bangladesh’s political landscape, which is marred by political
instability, assassinations, 19 military coups (two successful ones), military
rule (1975-90) and bitter rivalry between major political parties—ruling
center-left Awami League (AL) and center-right Bangladesh Nationalist Party
(BNP).
On
Nov. 30, the pope will pay homage at National Martyr’s Memorial and Bangabandhu
Memorial in Dhaka, which are politically significant landmarks.
The
former is dedicated to millions of martyrs of 1971 war of independence from
Pakistan, and the latter is the former residence of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman,
country’s independence leader and father of current Prime Minister Sheikh
Hasina.
Mujibur,
popularly called Bangabandhu (Friend
of Bengal) due to his lifelong struggle for socio-economic and political
emancipation of Bengali people, was assassinated at his residence with most of
his family members in the first military coup on Aug. 15, 1975.
The
brutal killings distracted Bangladesh from becoming a truly secular, democratic
republic. It also triggered assassination of national political leaders, a
series of coups and counter-coups, political upheavals and consequent military
takeover.
Military
dictator Ziaur Rahman formed center-right Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP)
drawing support from Awami League’s opponents—ultra-leftists and radical
Islamists, making the party “mortal enemy” of the AL.
Ziaur’s
likings for Islamists and attempts to impose a strong Islamic identity on
Bangladesh were for consolidation of power. He amended the secular Constitution,
inserted Islamic phrase “Bismillahir Rahmanir Rahim” (In the name Allah, the
Most Gracious and the Most Merciful) and replaced the key principle of
“Secularism” with “Absolute Trust and Faith on Almighty Allah.” His successor,
dictator H.M. Ershad, constituted Islam as “state religion.”
All
of these explain why Bangladesh is still struggling to maintain traditional
harmony and pluralism despite being born a secular nation and how lethal
radicalism happened. They also explain of the battle and power politics between
AL and BNP who alternated power since return of democracy.
On
Dec. 1, the pope will preside over a Holy Mass at Suhrawardy Udyan (Park) in
presence of more than 100,000 people, where he will ordain 16 deacons to
priesthood.
It
is the ground where on March 7, 1971, Bangabandhu
delivered a historic speech in fronts of millions to wage an “all-out fight”
against Pakistani military regime that refused to transfer power to AL defying
its landslide win in 1970 national election. The same ground also witnessed
surrender of 90,000 Pakistani troops to Bangladesh Liberation Forces on Dec.
16, 1971 at the end of a nine-month bloody civil war, marking the birth of
Bangladesh.
The
nation is to hold general election end of 2018 and fears abound of a return of
political violence following couple of years of relative peace amid a rise in
radicalism, suppression of opposition and Islamists by the ruling party.
Pope
is not a political leader, so it unwise to expect any solution from him. Yet,
as a messenger of harmony and peace, he cannot put aside politics from his
agenda.
Pope
himself is struggling against bigwig conservatives who have been waging a
poisonous war against his outstanding reforms and liberalism. Pope’s own battle
and his incredible power to maintain balance can be a great lesson for
Bangladeshi leaders too.
No
matter whatever the pope says and does in Bangladesh will have impacts locally
and internationally.
Pope
Francis and Bangladesh have great lessons to teach each other, and great
lessons to learn as well.
END
Rock Ronald
Rozario is the Bureau Chief for ucanews.com in Bangladesh, based in capital
city of Dhaka
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