Cardinal Charles Bo of Myanmar prays for ‘healing’ as he greets faithful on Easter

“We have suffered enough. Now we look towards the ending of all this,” said the cardinal, referring to the conflict in Myanmar

Cardinal Charles Maung Bo of Yangon in Myanmar prayed for “healing” in his Easter greetings on April 17, Easter Sunday.

“Let our families be healed, let our nation be healed, let our world be healed,” said the cardinal. “We greet the families that are coming out of many challenges,” he added.

He said he was “grateful” to see the return to the churches after two years of the pandemic. “It has been a long march,” he said.

“We have reached the mountain of hope, that this pandemic will leave humanity,” said the cardinal who is also president of the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences.


He said that as for Myanmar, which has been in the middle of a political conflict since February last year, the “multidimensional crises that grip the nation will melt away in the power of resurrection.”

“As a people, we sailed through the extended Lent of COVID and conflicts,” said Cardinal Bo.

“Now we stand at the shores of our own Red Sea, hoping that the Lord of history will part this sea and as a nation, we may enter the promised land of peace and reconciliation,” he said

“We have suffered enough. Now we look towards the ending of all this,” said the cardinal, adding that may this Easter “start the process of healing you.”

He said the people of Myanmar people “went through a palm Sunday, a decade of peace and celebrations, but suddenly like the betrayal in the Garden, they saw their dreams evaporate.”

Cardinal Bo said that when the pandemic struck, people lost their livelihood, food became scarce, and churches closed. “Communion became a challenge, moving to online,” he said.

Agony started and the people experience Calvary, a “real Holy Week has been enacted for the last two years.”

Aside from Myanmar, the cardinal noted that the “visceral agony of Ukraine” also “wrenched the hearts of the world.”

“We need to move ahead,” said Cardinal Bo. “We need to open the graves and let the message of the resurrection of hope fill this nation.”

Related Stories