Pope begins Myanmar trip in shadow of Rohingya crisis

Only about 700,000 of Myanmar's 51 million people are Roman Catholic. Thousands of them have travelled by train and bus to Yangon, the country's main city, to catch a glimpse of the Pope.

Christian nuns wait to welcome the arrival of Pope Francis outside Yangon International Airport in Yangon, Myanmar on Monday. Pope Francis is visiting Myanmar and Bangladesh to encourage their tiny Catholic communities and reach out to some of Asia's most peripheral and poor, but the big question looming is whether he'll utter the word "Rohingya" while he's there.

Pope Francis landed in Yangon on Monday, the start of a delicate visit for the world's most prominent Christian to majority-Buddhist Myanmar, which the United States has accused of “ethnic cleansing” its Muslim Rohingya people.

The Pope will also visit Bangladesh, to where more than 620,000 Rohingya have fled from what Amnesty International has dubbed “crimes against humanity” by Myanmar security forces, including murder, rape, torture and forcible displacement.

The Myanmar army denies the accusations.

Only about 700,000 of Myanmar's 51 million people are Roman Catholic. Thousands of them have travelled by train and bus to Yangon, the country's main city, to catch a glimpse of the pope.