"Churches are becoming more and more targets of attacks for military forces," he said.
The Fides report, quoting local sources in the Christian community, said the government soldiers are targeting churches "to destroy the hope of the people."
The Diocese of Pekhon is estimated to have about 340,000 inhabitants with about 55,000 Catholics, many of whom belong to indigenous peoples tribes.
The UN Security Council this week has expressed “deep concern” over the situation in Myanmar and called for “immediate cessation of violence.”
A report on Radio Free Asia said military operations in the southeast Asian country's southern Shan state and Sagaing region have forced nearly 40,000 people to flee their homes in the past two days.
The report said soldiers have been setting buildings on fire under the pretext of fighting terrorism because the villages in the region are reportedly centers of resistance to the military regime.
The same report said the military has acknowledged that it had raided several villages in Western Depayin township beginning on Monday evening.
Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun, a spokesman of the military junta, however dismissed the reports of attacks on civilian targets and burning of structures as “allegations.”
The military official told RFA that the military “has no reason to burn villages.”
“We are working to secure the area in Sagaing region, but we didn’t set any villages on fire — there’s no reason to do that,” he said.
Jose Torres, Jr., is editor-at-large of the Catholic Asian news site LiCAS.news. He is also editorial consultant of Radio Veritas Asia. He finished his Multimedia Journalism studies at the Konrad Adenauer Asian Center for Journalism at the Ateneo de Manila University.