Cardinal alleges PM, FM planning to deceive Pope: Govt denies any plan to visit Vatican

The Foreign Ministry yesterday said that Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa hadn’t requested or received an invitation to visit the Vatican for an audience with His Holiness the Pope. The FM issued the statement in response to Archbishop of Colombo, Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith‘s allegation that Premier and FM Prof. G.L. Peiris were planning to deceive the Pope and the international community as regards the investigations into the Easter Sunday carnage.

The Archbishop of Colombo told the media yesterday that the Catholic Church had already briefed Vatican regarding the developments.

The following is the text of the statement issued by the FM: The Prime Minister and the Foreign Minister will shortly make a visit to Bologna, Italy, to participate in an international event which is to be graced by the Prime Minister of Italy and other dignitaries from Italy and other European countries.

The Foreign Minister, at his briefing conducted on Monday 6th September, clearly described the purpose of the scheduled visit. The Prime Minister of Sri Lanka is scheduled to deliver the keynote address at the opening session of the international symposium which will be held in one of Europe’s oldest seats of learning, the University of Bologna.

At no stage has the Prime Minister requested nor has he received an invitation to visit the Vatican for an audience with His Holiness, the Pope.

The Prime Minister and the Foreign Minister will be leaving Italy, at the conclusion of the events in Bologna.”