As an estimated 100,000 protesters demonstrated in Yangon and thousands more marched across the country on Wednesday, 40 police joined protesters in Kayah province.

As tens of thousands take to Myanmar's streets, police have fired water cannons to disperse the crowds of demonstrators in Naypyidaw, the country's capital.

Pope Francis held a moment of silent prayer for Myanmar (Burma) during his Angelus address on Sunday, expressing his “spiritual closeness," along with "prayers" and "solidarity” with the people of the country.

In a statement issued Friday, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Myanmar asked Catholics -- a tiny minority in the mostly Buddhist nation of 53 million -- to participate in an hour of adoration while keeping a fast. 

Cardinal Archbishop of Yangon Charles Bo has called on the Myanmar military to release Aung San Suu Kyi and other civilian officials detained on 1st February as part of their "shocking" coup

The military coup in Myanmar is troubling news for religious minorities, including the country's 4.4 million Christians

Nobel peace laureate and pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who currently serves as State Counsellor, is among the elected officials detained, reportedly under house arrest. Soldiers took Suu Kyi into custody along with Myanmar’s president, Win Myint, and other leaders the National League for Democracy party (NLD), who won a landslide victory in elections last November. Official military channels allege election fraud as their reason for seizing power, now in the hands of Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, the army’s senior commander, who has declared a one-year state of emergency.

As Christian Unity week begins, Cardinal appeals for peace in strife stricken Myanmar