The news headlines of the world seem to focus on the pope's reluctance to identify the refugees fleeing Myanmar during his visit to the country. From BBC News: "Pope's Myanmar speech avoids reference to Rohingya" [1]; from economictimes.indiatimes.com: "Pope's Myanmar visit: Will he talk about the Rohingya issue?" [2]; from The New York Times: "In Myanmar, Pope Francis Calls for Peace Without Saying ‘Rohingya’" [3], and so on.
The headlines ought to be "Pope did not once mention Christ in his speech," since without Christ, there would be no Vatican, and the head of state of Vatican City State would not exist, and Bergoglio could not assume his favorite identity, that of a savvy politician. But then one ought not be surprised since the media is objective, and does not favor any one religion over another and if that is to be believed, why are there hardly any news articles written about the Japanese Shinto religion, is it because "Shintoists do not have a central leader"? [4] Is this even general knowledge?
Returning to the subject of Rohingya, Harvard Divinity School stated that "[t]he Rohingya is a Sunni Muslim ethnic minority in Myanmar and Bangladesh." [5] Another source stated that "The Rohingya people practice Sunni Islam with elements of Sufi worship." [6] Since this could be considered a different religion from Sunni Islam, has the media published reports on it as often as it reports on the activities of a Catholic pope?
The pope ought to be given credit since he has put the spotlight on the Rohingya refugees by traveling to Myanmar and soon to Bangladesh. Without him there would not be this many headlines focusing of the plight of the refugees. When they are out of sight of the media, they will be out of the collective mind of the world at large, even when there are Rohingha people with love in their hearts, love that God does not ignore.
[1] http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-42152146
[2] https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/international/world-news/popes-myanmar-visit-will-he-talk-about-the-rohingya-issue/articleshow/61816473.cms
[3] https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/28/world/asia/pope-francis-myanmar-rohingya.html
[4] https://www.reference.com/world-view/leaders-shinto-religion-fa769870b19c392b#
[5] https://rlp.hds.harvard.edu/faq/rohingya
[6] http://factsanddetails.com/southeast-asia/Myanmar/sub5_5d/entry-3057.html
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