Pope Francis calls China’s Uighur Muslims ‘persecuted’ for first time

In a wide-ranging new book, Pope Francis has referred to Uighur Muslims in China as a “persecuted” community for the first time, while also voicing his support for the protests that followed the killing of George Floyd in the US.

Titled "Let Us Dream: The Path to a Better Future," the book is a product of his exchanges with the English-language biographer Austen Ivereigh, in which Francis said that economic, social and political changes are needed to address global inequalities after the pandemic ends.

The book calls upon governments to consider establishing universal basic income (UBI) as part of their Covid-19 economic recoveries. The 150-page book is ghost-written by Ivereigh and will be published by Simon & Schuster on 1 December.

Acknowledging the plight of the Uighurs for the first time publicly, the pope said: “I think often of persecuted peoples: the Rohingya, the poor Uighurs, the Yazidi.”