On a five-day pastoral visit to Bangladesh, Cardinal Michael Czerny visits Cox’s Bazar, which houses more than one million people, mostly Rohingya refugees from Myanmar.
Vatican News
Cardinal Michael Czerny, the Prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development (DPIHD), visited Bangladesh from 1-4 November. During this time, the cardinal travelled to the Cox’s Bazar – Ukhia Rohingya Refugee Camp, together with Archbishop Kevin Randall and Fr. Liton Hubert Gomes, Executive Secretary for the Episcopal Commission for Justice and Peace of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Bangladesh.
One of the largest refugee camps
Welcomed by Archbishop Lawrence Subrata Howlader CSC and the entire Caritas Bangladesh team, the Dicastery delegation visited Cox’s Bazar as Caritas is very involved serving the women, children, families, and other vulnerable people.
Caritas Bangladesh offers a number of programs ranging from health, human rights, and formal education to after-school opportunities, ecological conversion, and training in the tailoring trade.
Caritas Bangladesh offers a number of programs ranging from health, human rights and formal education
During the visit, Cardinal Czerny met some children and their teachers, spent time with a family, and toured a workshop. He also joined in a time set aside for interreligious prayer.
One of the largest refugee camps in the world, Cox’s Bazar houses over 1,100,000 people, mostly Rohingya refugees from Myanmar. Since the 1970s, Bangladesh has welcomed Rohingya refugees. However, since 2017, the number has exponentially increased to more than a million people—50% of whom are minors.
Pastoral visits abound
After his time at Cox’s Bazar, Cardinal Czerny travelled to Dhaka to continue his pastoral visits. He met with the bishops of Bangladesh and the Episcopal Commission for Justice and Peace, which is commemorating five decades of ministry this year. The Prefect of DPIHD took part in one of their days of celebration.
The Prefect of the Dicastery also visited the refugee camp Cox’s Bazar – Ukhia Rohingya Camp
In Morandangur, Modonpur, Narayanganj, Cardinal Czerny stopped at the Peter Bhaban Credit Union Center, which is dedicated to providing pastoral care to migrant Christian indigenous families and offering them training courses. There, he celebrated Mass for the Jubilee of Migrants with some 600 people.
On All Souls’ Day, the Prefect presided over a Mass with 5,000 people at the country’s largest church, Holy Rosary Church, which was followed by a procession to the nearby cemetery.
