ASIA/MYANMAR - Closure of the Twitter account improperly opened in the name of the Archbishop of Yangon

Wednesday, 10 March 2021 new technologies civil society social network human rights

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Yangon (Agenzia Fides) - The Archbishop of Yangon, Cardinal Charles Maung Bo, asked the social network "Twitter" to delete an account with his name that was wrongly attributed to him. This is confirmed by the secretariat of the Cardinal who publicly announced on February 10th on the Facebook page of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Myanmar and the Archdiocese of Yangon that "the Cardinal has neither a Facebook nor a Twitter account". As confirmed to Fides, none of the posts published were attributable to the Cardinal. So far it has not been possible to determine who was working on Twitter on behalf of the Cardinal, whose alleged posts were quoted by the media around the world for the information on the Burmese crisis.
The Cardinal's Twitter account was not, as some press sources reported, obscured by the military junta, but rather the Cardinal himself asked for the account to be deleted, a request which was favorably received by the company.
As Fides learned, during this delicate phase of the political crisis following the coup d'état, the Cardinal resides in Yangon and does not make any public statements except for the Sunday Lenten homilies.
In the last message addressed to the faithful, the Cardinal said that "a new Myanmar is possible, a nation without conflict is possible, so that this nation may experience the glory it deserves. Let us make peace our destiny ... Arms are useless. We must arm ourselves with reconciliation and dialogue". The Cardinal affirmed: "Peace is the only way; peace is possible. Pope Francis has asked for all conflicts to be resolved through dialogue. Those who want conflicts do not wish this nation well".
The suggestion provided by the Catholic Bishops' Conference to all ecclesiastical staff is not to get directly involved in the street protest. Many priests, men and women religious, although "respecting this indication", activated as mediators in the streets, seeking to block the violence to save the lives of young demonstrators who were protesting peacefully in the framework of the phases of harsh repression of the police. (PA) (Agenzia Fides, 10/3/2021)