Bangladesh ‘culturally a nation of one’: D'Rozario

The first cardinal of Bangladesh, Patrick D'Rozario, has termed Bangladesh as 'culturally a nation of one'.

"Thus, despite actions trying to destroy them, we will continue praying and working toward unity," the Archbishop told Italian TV news agency Rome Reports.

The President of Catholic Bishops' Conference of Bangladesh said the incidents happening in Bangladesh are rejected by the majority of Christians and Muslims.

He explained he has been collaborating with religious leaders and they are working together to fight these terrorist incidents that are new to them as a nation.

"We see that terrorism is everywhere and spreading, but I think we should not be [afraid]. I think the whole sense of humanness in the society, the human relationship, is lacking. We don't have respect, and when you don't have respect for the small things, we finish caring for life. So I think human formation is absolutely needed all over the world," D'Rozario said.

Bangladesh has about 212,000 Catholics, a mere 0.04 percent of its population.

The cardinal says they work along with the Church as a whole, fighting for education, advancements in the developmental world, increase in charitable work and religious harmony.

"Personally, I think another apostolate is praying for everyone: for Muslims, Hindus, Christians and also those who are giving leadership in the country. That's the one task, to pray, and we have been doing that. So it's a big honor for the whole country."

On October 9, Archbishop Patrick D'Rozario of Dhaka was promoted along with 16 other Roman Catholic prelates to the high rank of cardinal.

He said when he heard he would be cardinal, he was "shattered to the ground in shock."

"When I reflected the meaning of it, and the meaning is, it's a great recognition of Bangladesh as a nation. Also of the little community that we are, a very small, tiny community. It's a recognition of what it is doing," he said.

On November 19, He was formally inducted into the Roman Catholic Church's College of Cardinals, a 120-member elite body which advises and elects popes.