2014-09-13 17:31:00

S. Lankan Church urges nation not to politicize Pope’s visit


The Catholic Church in Sri Lanka has urged the nation not to politicize the visit of Pope Francis in January ‎amid reports that President Mahinda Rajapakse may hold a snap election early next year.  Cardinal ‎Malcom Ranjith, the president of the Catholic Bishops Conference of Sri Lanka, CBCSL, called on the ‎government not to use the Pope’s presence in the country January 13-15 as a "political tool".  His ‎remarks came amid intense media speculation that Rajapakse, who removed the two-term limit on the ‎presidency after his 2010 re-election, was preparing a poll early next year. 

"We have told the president ‎that it is not appropriate for a Pope to visit a country that is in the middle of an election campaign," the ‎cardinal told reporters in Colombo.  "The visit should not be used as a political tool by the government, ‎or the opposition, or anybody else for that matter."  Sri Lanka is mainly a Buddhist country, but it has a ‎‎7.5 percent Christian population whose block vote could be decisive in the event of a close presidential ‎election.  The Cardinal said the position of the Catholic bishops is that the papal visit must be free of ‎politics.  

Sri Lanka is the first leg of Pope Francis’ Asia trip, after which he heads to the Philippines Jan. ‎‎15 to 19.    The details of the Sri Lankan visit is not declared, but he is likely to travel to the island's ‎former war zone in the north.   Sri Lanka ended 37-years of ethnic bloodshed after wiping out the ‎leadership of the rebels in a no-holds-barred 2009 military campaign that has also triggered allegations ‎of war crimes.‎  (Source: UCAN)








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