Pope Francis, for first time, says China’s Uygurs are ‘persecuted’
- In new book, pontiff names Muslim minority in Xinjiang alongside the Rohingya and Yazidi, while also talking about persecuted Christians in Islamic countries
- Commentators have said the Vatican was reluctant to speak out on the Uygurs because it was in the process of renewing a controversial accord with Beijing
In a new book, Pope Francis for the first time calls China’s Muslim Uygurs a “persecuted” people, something human rights activists have been urging him to do for years.
“I think often of persecuted peoples: the Rohingya, the poor Uygurs, the Yazidi,” he said in the wide-ranging Let Us Dream: the Path to a Better Future, a 150-page collaboration with his English-language biographer, Austen Ivereigh. It goes on sale on December 1.
The comments were made in a section where the pontiff also talks about persecuted Christians in Islamic countries.
While the Pope has spoken out before about the Rohingya who have fled Myanmar, and the killing of Yazidi by Islamic State in Iraq, it was the first time he mentioned the Uygurs.
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China claims most Muslim detainees have left Xinjiang re-education camps and returned to society
Faith leaders, activist groups and governments have said crimes against humanity and genocide are taking place against Uygurs in China’s remote Xinjiang region, where more than 1 million people are held in camps.