A Catholic priest was killed in Myanmar on Friday, an incident that “deeply shocked and saddened” Cardinal Charles Maung Bo.
Father Donald Martin Ye Naing Win from the Archdiocese of Mandalay in Upper Burma, was killed by a group of armed men on the evening of Feb. 14 in Kangyi Taw village of the Shwebo Township.
The 44-year-old was a priest at Our Lady of Lourdes’s Parish, and had been a priest for seven years. His body was found in a forest near the old town of Pyu in Kangyi Taw.
The local Christian community told media he was a very kind-hearted priest and a great missionary, and they are saddened by his death.
Kangyi Taw village is located on the border of Shwebo and Wetlet districts. In addition to the Christian church, Kangyi Taw village also has a Buddhist monastery.
In 2023, the military council burned down Kangyi Taw village and the 120-year-old Mae Taw Thakin Ma school in Chan village, a Catholic Christian village in Ye U Township.
According to a military council report the Telegram, Win was arrested by the KIA/PDPF in the village at around 6 pm on February 14 and then cut to pieces with a knife outside the village.
Christians make up about 6 percent of Myanmar’s overwhelmingly Buddhist population, but about 34 percent of Kachin’s estimated 1.7 million population.
Kachin Independence Army (KIA) and the Kachin People’s Defense Force (KPDF) have been operating in northern Myanmar for decades. Although a nominal peace was formed in 2008, the 2021 coup d’état ousted the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi led to a renewal of the rebellion.
Bo, the President of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Myanmar, said the Catholic Church was “deeply shocked and saddened by the news” of the murder.
“The Catholic Church throughout Myanmar mourns this loss together with Archbishop Marco Tin Win, the priests, the religious, the faithful of the Archdiocese of Mandalay and parents and relatives of Father Donald Martin Ye Naing Win. May God the Father, the Lord of all life, comfort your mourning hearts and ours,” the cardinal said in a statement.
“May the blood and sacrifices of countless innocent people, along with Father Donald Martin Ye Naing Win, serve as an offering to ending the violence that is occurring throughout the Nation. Learning from these heartbreaking experiences that we have encountered, may the fraternal spirit be awakened, and we earnestly appeal for an end to the violence,” he added.
“The wrongdoing committed against Father Donald Martin Ye Naing Win is not something that can be easily forgotten. Therefore, we urge those responsible to take appropriate action and ensure justice is served, so that such incidents do not occur again in the future,” Bo said.
