POPE'S MYANMAR PAUSE

POPE FRANCIS held talks on Monday with Myanmar's military chief at the start of a delicate visit to a majority Buddhist country that the United States has accused of  'ethnic cleansing'' against its Muslim Rohingya people.

The leader of the Roman Catholic Church will also visit Bangladesh, where more than 620,000 Rohingya have fled to escape what Amnesty International has dubbed 'crimes against humanity'.

Myanmar's army has denied accusations of murder, rape, torture and forced displacement that have been made against it.

The Pope's first meeting in Yangon was with military commander Senior General Min Aung Hlaing in St. Mary's Cathedral in the heart of the Southeast Asia nation's largest city

''They discussed the great responsibility of authorities of the country in this time of transition,'' Vatican spokesperson Creg Burke said after the 15 minutes of talks, which were followed by an exchange of gifts.

Francis presented the general with a commemorative medal of his visit, and Min Aung Hilaing gave the Pope a harp in the shape of a boat and an ornate rice bowl, Burke said.

The army chief told the Pope that  ''there's no religious discrimination, in Myanmar and there's the freedom of religion,'' according to a statement on the  Facebook of Min Aung Hlaing.

''Every soldier's goal is to build a stable and peaceful country,'' the army chief was paraphrased as saying in the statement.

Members of ethnic minority groups in traditional dress welcomed Pope Francis at Yangon airport and children presented him with flowers as he stepped off the plane.

He waved through an open window at dozens of children waving Vatican and Myanmar flags and wearing T-shirts with the motto of the trip  -''Love and Peace'' as he set-off in a car.

Only about 700,000 of Myanmar's 51 million people are Roman Catholic.