For The First Time Pope Francis Called Ethnic Uighurs Persecuted

Pope Francis (Source: Wikimedia Commons)

JAKARTA - For the first time, Pope Francis has publicly identified China's Uighur minority as the world's persecuted people. This statement is the answer to his silence over allegations of widespread human rights violations in the Xinjiang region of China.

"I often think of people who are being persecuted: Rohingya, poor Uighurs, Yazidis - what ISIS did to them is really cruel - or Christians in Egypt and Pakistan killed by bombs that exploded while they were praying in church, "Pope Francis said in his new book, Let Us Dream: The Path to A Better Future.

According to a report by the United States Department of State (US) cited by CNN, Tuesday, November 24, said that as many as two million Uighurs, who are mostly Muslim, and other minority groups have been taken to major detention centers in the Xinjiang region. People detained in Xinjiang are described as being subjected to indoctrination, physical abuse and sterilization.

Pope Francis does not go into further detail on issues relating to Uyghurs in his book, beyond a brief mention of Uyghurs. Meanwhile he talked about other persecuted groups like Rohingya in more detail.

The book, a broad reflection of Pope Francis' vision for a post-coronavirus world, was co-authored with papal biographer Austen Ivereigh during the summer of 2020. The Vatican recently extended a controversial agreement with China on the appointment of bishops in mainland China.

In addition to naming Uighurs and Rohingya, Pope Francis also said people who say the use of masks is a form of coercion are "victims in their imaginations" and praised those who protested George Floyd's death for gathering around the "wholesome anger" that united them.

Pope Francis' support for universal basic income (UBI), a controversial policy espoused by some economists and sociologists in which the government gives a fixed amount of money to every citizen without conditions, is the most obvious.

China denies

But the Chinese government denies allegations of human rights abuses in Xinjiang. They insist the camps are vocational training centers built to tackle the threat of religious extremism.

The Chinese side has long insisted on making the final say on all bishop appointments in the country, but the 2018 agreement ended decades of tensions between the Vatican and China. The two sides previously severed formal diplomatic ties in 1951. Details of the agreement were never published and have been criticized by several people, including US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

Speaking at a regular press conference, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said Pope Francis calling the Uighurs on the list of persecuted people was "completely baseless."

"There are 56 ethnic groups in China and the Uighur ethnic groups are equal members of the extended Chinese family. The Chinese government always treats (all) minority groups equally and protects their legitimate rights and interests," said Zhao Lijian.