karens in Bangkok for Pope Francis visit

Twelve hours drive to the capital from our distant mountains. But for nothing in the world we would have missed this appointment with the Pope whose last visit (John Paul II) dates back to ... 35 years! For the karens of the region, most of whom have never even seen the capital, it is a unique event in a man's life. What a surprise first, to discover the modernity of the capital, when our villages lack everything: "I do not understand why we illuminate the roads all night, when we do not even have electricity in our villages" , remarks one of them. Emotion of being reunited with the large crowd of Christians of Thailand (yet so few) gathered in the national stadium: it is the whole church that is present, with the colorful costumes of the different minorities, the various clothes of the different congregations religious, various types of Christians from the South and North, the plain and the mountains. Huge fervor finally, when the pope passes in his white car, smiling despite the heat and fatigue. The parish of Calvary and his priest welcomes us generously for the night. The group even has the honors of French Catholic television, an experience that will be remembered for a long time! When we return, we return to the path of faith, from the first apostolic missionaries in Ayuttahya to the founding father of our little mission on the borders of the Kingdom, Father Joseph Quintard. We visit his brothers and friends, still alive and active, Father Coutand and Laborie; then one goes to his grave in the priests' square of the Nakhon Sawan Catholic Cemetery. Great emotion to find the one who, not so long ago, shared their meal in their bamboo houses, and baptized most. It is exhausted but happy that one arrives finally, the night fell, with Ponouaipou, a little sounded of these two days so dense, which it will take several weeks to appreciate the fruits. Viva il Papa!