Myanmar is emerging from half a century of Calvary, into a period of Easter and Pentecost, the country's first cardinal has said.

According to the Catholic Herald, Cardinal Maung Bo said the upcoming season of hope is not limited to Myanmar. "This is an Easter season for the world," he said. "Despite the bad news in the Middle East, the world is waking up to a new Pentecost phase. This season culminates in Pentecost. Pentecost is the birth of Christianity."

Christians were targeted and persecuted in Myanmar under its previous intense military regime, but "God did not abandon our nation", the cardinal added. Despite suffocating conditions, the Catholic Church has continued to grow.

Speaking during a mass at Westminster Cathedral, Cardinal Bo described the recent democratic elections in Myanmar as signalling the start of a "season of hope" for the country.

"Our country was taken to five decades of Calvary by evil men. Everyone thought this was a country without an Easter. You have witnessed from afar the suffering of this nation. Those times many countries did undergo the way of the Cross. There was an iron curtain. But our country was under what was called a bamboo curtain."

The Church was singled out for persecution, he said.

"Our Calvary was marked by enforced starvation, denied education to the youth, arrest and incarceration of thousands for asking for basic rights, the death and disappearance of thousands.

"The country closed itself. The Catholic Church was singled out for persecution. Overnight the missionaries serving the poor and the vulnerable were expelled."

Although the situation was torturous, Cardinal Bo said: "Amidst one of the most suffocating oppressions, the Church grew."

"The Church was like a mustard seed but like the Biblical example it grow into a tree... From just three dioceses we grew into 16 dioceses. From 100,000 people we are now 700,000 faithful, from 160 priests we are now 700 priests, from 300 religious we are now more than 2,200 religious, 60 per cent of them below the age of 40.

"A young and vibrant Church is extending social support through 16 Caritas networks. God walked with us in our way of the Cross ensuring that our Easter was enriched in faith. We are a confident and growing Church in southeast Asia and recently started sending missionaries to other countries. We are not yet totally free but we have proved that we cannot be pruned from history."

Cardinal Bo celebrated that Myanmar's "Easter moment came in the most peaceful manner" through Aung San Suu Kyi, "whose belief in peace and non-violence stands in stark contrast to the violent conflicts in many parts of the world. It is a great inspiration that peace is possible and moral power still can overcome al lhuman suffering."

Nobel laureate and pro-democracy campaigner Aung San Suu Kyi lived under house arrest for years, peacefully protesting the military rulers of Myanmar.