Papal trip
Having accepted the invitations of the respective heads of State and Bishops, Pope Francis will make an apostolic trip to Myanmar from 27 to 30 November, visiting the cities of Yangon and Nay Pyi Taw, and to Bangladesh from 30 November to 2 December, visiting the city of Dhaka. The programme for the journey will be released shortly. The logo for the visit to Myanmar (formerly Burma) is a heart symbolising love as a theme uniting Christianity and Buddhism, the majority religion in Myanmar. The ribbon is in the colours of the Vatican and Myanmar flags; the rainbow represents the multiethnic character of the country, with 8 large tribes and 135 ethnic groups. The picture of Pope Francis with a dove is a sign of his desire to be a herald of peace: indeed, the motto of the Papal visit is “Love and peace”.
And the motto of his visit to Bangladesh is “Harmony and Peace” (Shomprity & shanti in Bangla). The logo shows the bird of peace, and inside it, a cross and the “Shpala”, Bangladesh’s national flower, symbolising life and hope. The bird and the flower are also a symbol for Mother Earth, our common home. The colours green, red and yellow are the same as in the flags of Bangladesh and the Vatican, symbolising the long friendship between the two states. Indeed, the Vatican was the first to recognise Bangladesh’s independence in 1971.
