The Catholic church said yesterday (28 February) that Colombo Archbishop His Eminence Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith has met Catholic Church Head His Holiness Pope Francis yesterday, where the discussions were due to have been focused on the Sri Lankan Catholic people’s struggle for justice, following the Easter Sunday terror attacks.
“We have exhausted all options within Sri Lanka to find justice. Now, we are discussing all avenues through which we can find justice internationally. Our last remaining solution was to seek assistance from the international community. This is not because we do not love our country. The Archbishop is meeting the Pope after two years and he is especially focusing on informing him that we need help from the international community to seek justice for the victims of the Easter Sunday terror attacks,” National Catholic Social Communication Centre Director Rev. Cyril Gamini Fernando said at a press conference held yesterday.
Responding to media queries on whether the Archbishop is due to travel to the US, following his meeting with the Pope, Rev. Fernando said that the Archbishop’s plans after the visit to the Vatican cannot be officially announced yet.
“In our path to seeking justice from the international community, Sri Lanka may face sanctions. The Government and the relevant authorities should have thought about that in the past three years. If they had done what was required, which is to implement the recommendations of the Presidential Commission of Inquiry into the Easter Sunday terror attacks, nobody would have needed to get help internationally. The fact that justice has not yet been served is a Sri Lankan problem. People from all religions and communities and foreigners died in the attacks,” he added.
Archbishop Ranjith said last month that they were currently exploring the possibility of reaching out to the international community, including the UN, to seek justice for the said terror attacks. In an online meeting held recently, the Archbishop pointed out that they, as the Catholic church, have links all over the world, and that they would also try to influence some pertinent and powerful countries that are in contact with the church. In addition, he said that in case they would be reaching out to the international community, such efforts would also be supported by his fellow cardinals around the world.
On 21 April 2019, Easter Sunday, three churches (St. Sebastian’s Church in Katuwapitiya, St. Anthony’s Church in Kochchikade, and Zion Church in Batticaloa) and three luxury hotels in Colombo (Cinnamon Grand Colombo, The Kingsbury Colombo, and Shangri-La Colombo) were targeted in a series of co-ordinated suicide bombings. Later that day, another two bomb explosions took place at a house in Dematagoda and the Tropical Inn Lodge in Dehiwala. A total of 269 people excluding the bombers were killed in the bombings, including about 45 foreign nationals, while at least 500 were injured.