The message defines the military coup as “periodic darkness,” calling on the people of Myanmar to “stay calm” and not fall “victim to violence” because “we have shed enough blood.”

He notes that what has happened–the military takeover, the arrest of democratic leaders, a state of emergency for a year, the promise of new elections–are “the result of a sad lack of dialogue and communication” between the military and Aung San Suu Kyi’s party. 

The pastoral letter follows a military coup on February 1 when the military seized control and detained the country’s leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, and members of her party were detained.