Top monks in Cambodia’s Buddhist community have reportedly expressed their condolences to Pope Francis, who died in Rome on April 21, and have expressed good wishes to his successor.
According to Radio Veritas Asia (RVA), on May 4, a delegation of 42 Buddhist monks led by Yon Seng Yeath, the Supreme Representative of the Samdech Preah Agga Maha Sangharajadhipati Nun Nget of the Kingdom of Cambodia, went to the Pastoral Center of the Apostolic Vicariate in Phnom Penh to pray for the late Pope Francis.
Bishop Olivier Schmidthausler, Apostolic Vicar of Phnom Penh, welcomed the delegates and thanked them for paying homage to the late pope in an interfaith way.
In his speech, Yeath recalled the long friendship between Buddhism and the Catholic Church, as well as the spiritual bond that the late Patriarch De Vong had established over the years with Popes John Paul II, Benedict XVI and Francis.
He added that friendly relations between Buddhists and Christians will continue to flourish under the new pope.
The meeting included condolences to Francis on behalf of the Sangha and the Cambodian Buddhist community, RVA reported.
“We express our deepest condolences to the entire Catholic community for the loss of our beloved pope,” said Yes, who served as rector of King Sihanouk Buddhist University, vice-president of the Cambodian Sangha Secretariat and vice-president of the Phnom Penh Buddhist Governorate.
“May the pope rest in peace in heaven with God,” he concluded.
“Christians, Buddhists and Muslims — all deserve the opportunity to move forward together,” said Bishop Schmidt-Haussler, a French missionary from the Paris Institute of Foreign Missions.
He recalled Francis’ commitment to promoting interfaith harmony.
Since the week since his death, the Catholic Church in the Phnom Penh Vicariate has been holding memorial prayers for Pope Francis, attended by the Ministry of Religion, senior government officials, foreign diplomats, Islamic and Christian leaders, Catholic non-governmental organizations and parishioners from across the vicariate.
Currently, a total of 133 eligible cardinals from around the world are participating in the centuries-old election process to choose a new pope, known as the conclave, which takes place on May 7 in the Vatican’s famous Sistine Chapel.
