Bishop Alexander Pyone Cho of Pyay appealed for calm following the murder of a 4-year-old girl whose body was discovered on church grounds ucanews.com reported on 29 September.
Father Benjamin Htwe Naing of the Assumption Parish in Nyaungwon said local villagers and police found the body of the Catholic girl on 27September. The girl was missing for four days. The incident sparked an angry mob to ransack a convent, forcing a priest and three nuns to flee Nyaungwon village, where the murder took place.
Police later detained a 14-year-old boy in the incident. The youth, an orphan, was residing in the convent while he was waiting to be adopted.
Bishop Pyone Cho, in a 30 September statement, urged people to refrain from sharing on social media news and grisly photos of the incident in order to prevent inciting more violence.
"We realize some opportunists are attempting to fuel the incident and spread rumours that could provoke religious conflict," Bishop Pyone Cho told ucanews.com.
The bishop said recent rumours of sectarian violence frightened some local families.