HWARI, Myanmar, APRIL 4, 2007 (Zenit.org).- Father Paolo Noè, widely known as the patriarch of Myanmar, is dead after 59 years of missionary service. He was 89.
The director of AsiaNews, Father Bernardo Cervellera, reported that Father Noè's passing marks the end of an era in the history of Myanmar's first evangelization.
"Father Paolo was the last missionary in the country sent by the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions," Father Cervellera reported. "Unlike most other foreign missionaries who were expelled by the government in 1966, including those who had arrived before independence, he was able to remain."
Father Noè first arrived in 1948, when the country was still called Burma. Father Cervellera explained that he was the last of the 29 missionaries given a residency visa.
"But he was never able to leave because the government in Yangon threatened him and the others that if they left they would not be allowed back in," the AsiaNews director explained. All the missionaries vowed "to stay put until death and never travel abroad."
Father Noè's work included helping to found the six dioceses in Myanmar, along with building Christian communities, training local priests and educating youth.
Code: ZE07040403
Date: 2007-04-04