St Patrick’s Cathedral in Kachin State, Myanmar has been “reduced to ashes” following an attack by troops working for the country’s military junta.
The attack happened just days before the celebration of the church’s namesake, St Patrick.
Locals have shared footage of the cathedral’s destruction with DVB English News.
Religious liberty organisation, Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW), has said that the incident is just the most recent in a string of attacks on Christians and their property.
On 26 February military forces destroyed a priest’s home, diocesan offices and a highschool, while on 6 February an airstrike in Chin State resulted within the destruction of Sacred Heart Church.
Another bombing raid on 3 March destroyed the pastoral centre at St Michael’s Catholic Church in Kachin State.
Christians aren’t the one ones being targeted. An airstrike on a Buddhist monastery on 16 March killed nine people, six of them monks.
Since 2023 the military government has been in conflict with rebel groups from different ethnic minority groups. The military has been heavily criticized for taking military motion against the minority groups from which the rebel groups emerged.
CSW has accused the junta of carrying out “collective punishment” against minority groups in Chin, Kachin, Karen and Karenni States, areas which all have significant Christian populations within the otherwise heavily Buddhist country.
Mervyn Thomas, Founder President of CSW, said that by targeting religious buildings the junta is each destroying the “cultural and spiritual” foundation of local communities in addition to destroying places of refuge for those displaced by the continuing conflict.
He said, “The Myanmar junta’s deliberate targeting of Christian communities and other religious groups represents an egregious violation of human rights and international humanitarian law.
“The international community must not stay silent within the face of this systematic campaign of collective punishment of non secular minorities, and must make immediate efforts to disrupt the cycle of impunity and guarantee justice for those impacted.”
