Pope Francis will travel to Myanmar and Bangladesh this year for a landmark visit that is likely to focus international attention on the plight of the stateless Rohingya Muslim minority. The leader of the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics will be in Myanmar from 27 to 30 November and neighbouring Bangladesh from 30 November to 2 December, the Vatican said on Monday. The visit to Myanmar will be the first by any pope to the country formerly known as Burma. Pope John Paul II visited Bangladesh in 1986. Francis has regularly spoken out in defence of the Rohingya, a persecuted Muslim group in predominantly Buddhist Myanmar. On Sunday he bemoaned the latest “sad reports of the persecution of a religious minority, our Rohingya brothers” adding: “I would like to express my closeness to them and all of us ask the Lord to save them and to prompt men and women of good faith to help them and ensure their full rights.”(theguardian)…[+]