- Asia: Pope travels to Thailand, refuge for Christians fleeing from Pakistan
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When the leader of the Catholic Church visits a country where less than 1% of the population is Christian, no one is expected to receive him entertaining him with compliments and military honors. "With gratitude for the hospitality I have received, I pray that God Almighty will allow the people of Thailand to always flourish in harmony and cooperation in the search for the common good," Pope Francis wrote in the Thai book of honor upon his arrival this morning. to the Bangkok Government House for the welcome ceremony.
There he was received by General Prayuth Chan-ocha , Prime Minister of the country, who highlighted the commendable work of the Supreme Pontiff to "promote peace, harmony and eradicate poverty." Then he invited him to deliver a televised speech for the entire nation.
But let's skip a few hours and go to the most anticipated moment of Pope Francis' thirty-second Apostolic Journey: to meet, listed as private, with King Maha Vajiralongkorn, officially treated as Rama X.
The spiritual leader and the man who appointed his poodle chief of the air force met at 5:00 p.m. at the Amphorn Royal Palace. The meeting lasted just over 35 minutes and the Pope presented the king with a painting ("Papal Blessing in St. Peter's Square") taken from a 19th century oil painting by Italian painter Ippolito Caffi.
The Thai monarch, the richest in the world -with a fortune of 30,000 million dollars- , is the usual protagonist of the pink pages for his bedroom secrets, which are really not so secret. Also for its eccentricities and purges.
A few weeks ago it was news to expel his official consort, also general of his army, for "stealing prominence from the queen." Shortly after he fired four of his courtiers, called room pages, for his "evil behaviors." And his chamberlain - his great servant - because, according to him, he had forced an abortion to a lover he had . He also sent a nurse from the court and the veterinarian of his dogs to unemployment because "they had obtained personal benefits by taking advantage of their position in the palace." The waters are somewhat uprooted by the Thai throne, in which precisely that "harmony" referred to by the Pope in his signature in the book of honor does not flourish.
Let us return to the televised speech of the Pontiff, in which 388,000 Catholics - in a country with 69 million inhabitants - were attached to the television. The Pope was quite direct: "I think of all those women and children of our time, especially those injured, raped and exposed to all forms of exploitation , slavery, violence and abuse," he told Thai authorities, denouncing the exploitation of women and Children in a country known for their sex tourism. According to a report by the Onusida organization, there are about 123,530 sex workers in Thailand. And many of the 35 million tourists who visit the Southeast Asian country each year end up requesting some of their services.
When the Pope arrived in Bangkok yesterday, the first thing he did was hug his cousin, the Salesian nun Ana Rosa Sívori (77) who is acting as a translator for Francisco during the trip until the 23rd, when he will continue his scheduled route to Japan . This is the second Pope who visits these two nations , after John Paul II went to the Japanese country in 1981 and Thailand in 1984.
After his televised speech, the Pope had an encounter with the Supreme Patriarch of the Buddhists and, later, with the medical staff of St. Louis Hospital. Then his private visit to King Rama X would arrive. The Pontiff has closed the day with a homily in the National Stadium of the capital before 50,000 followers.
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