Myanmar's government announces plans to demolish cathedral, Buddhist sites (UCANews)

Myanmar’s Ministry of Religious Affairs and Culture announced plans to demolish Sacred Heart Cathedral and 19 Buddhist sites in Taungoo, a city of 110,000, as part of an archeological excavation.

The Catholic community “is powerless to defend their beautiful cathedral,” said Father Xavier Wine Maung, the cathedral parish priest. “My only hope is to plead for leniency, asking them to save at least the main church building. It doesn’t matter if they demolish other buildings in the compound.”