On 29th July, three cardinals visited a Rohingya refugee camp in Bangladesh to bring attention to the ongoing humanitarian needs in the camp.
Filipino Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle of Manila, the president of Caritas Internationalis, and Myanmar Cardinal Charles Maung Bo, the president of the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences, joined by Bangladeshi Cardinal Patrick D’Rozario at the refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar.
“For me, this visit was the Gospel of love of neighbours, of solidarity with the Rohingyas,” said D’Rozario cardinal of Bangladesh.
This trip was Cardinal Tagle’s second visit to a Rohingya refugee camp. He made a similar visit last December, describing the camp as “a cry to the whole world for a better politics based on compassion and solidarity.”
“When will we learn our lessons and be able to stop a crisis of this magnitude happening again? How as an international community and a human family can we get back to the basics of dignity, care and compassion?”Tagle said.
The three cardinals also met with Muhammad Abul Kalam, head of Bangladesh’s Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commission, the main state body overseeing the refugees residing in Cox’s Bazar. “I conveyed to them the gigantic challenges we are facing and told them we appreciated the various activities undertaken by Caritas for the refugees,” said Kalam.
Caritas Internationalis, a global confederation of Catholic relief and development agencies which has helped more than half a million Rohingya refugees by providing shelter, water, sanitation, hygiene, and living supplies.
The cardinals talked to refugee families in the camps and met with Caritas volunteers and staff, who are helping provide necessities to the refugees.
