Cardinal visits Rome to meet Pope

ECONOMYNEXT – The head of Sri Lanka’s Catholic church, Colombo Archbishop Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith, is in Rome, Italy, on what the Colombo archdiocese says is a routine visit to the Vatican, though the cardinal recently revealed plans to take up the matter of the 2019 Easter bombings with the Pope.

“He’s in Rome right now and he left the island last night. This is an annual visit to Rome, where the Cardinal goes to the Vatican and meets the Pope, so it is a normal visit to meet the Pope,’ Rev Cyril Gamini Fernando, a spokesman for the Catholic church, told EconomyNext Thursday (24) afternoon.

On February 15, Cardinal Ranjith said the church was working together with the Vatican on a secret course of action to help find justice for the victims of the 2019 Easter bombings.

“The plans cannot be revealed yet, but something is being organised,” the cardinal said, speaking to reporters on February 15. “If we cannot find a solution within the country, we will try going through international organisations.”

“If we do go international,” he added, “the government alone must take responsibility for that, because it is the government that has not paid an iota of attention to this. We cannot accept that.”

Meanwhile, Speaker of Parliament Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena told the House on Wednesday (23) that a copy of the final report of the Presidential Commission of Inquiry appointed to investigate the bombings was added to the parliament library for the perusal of MPs.

The report spans 88 volumes and nearly 70,000 pages.

Main opposition Samagi Jana Balavegaya (SJB) MP Mujiber Rahuman told parliament on Wednesday that the report was released to parliament “as soon as the Cardinal took off to the Vatican”.

His colleague MP Harin Fernando requested the speaker to provide a soft copy of the report.

“There are 69,800 pages in the 87 volumes. None of us can take it home. We request the speaker to make a soft copy available, because otherwise it’s going to be difficult to read it,” he said.

Chief Opposition Whip and SJB MP Lakshman Kiriella, meanwhile, defended the calls for international intervention in finding justice for the Easter attack victims.

“It’s reasonable to go to the international community when our problems are not resolved internally.  What is the point in giving us these volumes? It’ll only be of use to a bothal kaaraya (a trader who buys used paper). This was done to save face. The government takes legal action selectively,” said Kiriella.

The leadership of Sri Lanka’s Catholic Church has been at loggerheads with the incumbent government over what it claims is the latter’s lethargy in finding the masterminds of the bomb blasts that shook the country on April 21, 2019, killing 269 people including foreigners and injuring over 500.