Making his first visit to Canada, Cardinal Bo met with Burmese expatriates and stopped at some of the country’s major religious sites, including Canada’s Martyrs’ Shrine, according to a news report in Simcoe.com on August 19.

“I was very impressed (by the Martyrs’ Shrine),” he said during his August 17 stop. “So much so I almost decided to become a Jesuit.”

Cardinal Bo is the archbishop of the Roman Catholic archdiocese of Yangon. He was named archbishop in 2003 and cardinal in 2015.

“There have been Catholics in Myanmar for over 500 years,” he said. “But I’m the first cardinal. After 500 years, we finally got there.”

The cardinal was accompanied on his visit by Simcoe North MP Bruce Stanton, who serves as chair of the Parliamentary Friends of Burma, according to the newspaper.

“This is a country that is in the very early stages of putting together a democratic and peaceful country,” said Mr Stanton. “The work of Cardinal Bo and other civil-society groups is helping to move this along.”

Cardinal Bo said the efforts of Canada and others in imposing sanctions on Myanmar’s former military government were a huge help in ensuring democracy returned to his country.

“Canada continues to be a land of hope in a fast-changing world,” he told media. “Even as dark clouds of hate speech form over your neighbor (United States), you are unflinchingly welcoming to every stranger.”