VATICAN INFORMATION SERVICE
YEAR XXII - # 007
DATE 13-01-2015

Summary:
- Francis begins his apostolic trip to Sri Lanka
- Interreligious meeting: religious beliefs must never be abused in the cause
of violence and war
- Pope's greetings to the presidents of Doctrinal Commissions of the European
Episcopal Conferences

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 Francis begins his apostolic trip to Sri Lanka
 Vatican City, 13 January 2014 (VIS) - This morning Pope Francis began his
visit to Sri Lanka and the Philippines, the seventh apostolic trip of his
papacy. Like his predecessor St. John Paul II, he will visit the two Asian
countries with the greatest number of Catholics in a single trip. The visit to
Sri Lanka will last for two days and will include an interreligious meeting,
the canonisation of Joseph Vaz and a Marian prayer at the shrine of Our Lady
of Madhu. During his three-day visit to the Philippines the Holy Father will
meet, among others, victims of the typhoon Yolanda. The last day of his trip
will coincide with the feast day of the Holy Child of Cebu in the Philippines,
whose shrine receives millions of pilgrims.
 The Holy Father, who left from Rome's Fiumicino airport at 6.50 p.m.
yesterday evening, and arrived in Colombo, the capital of Sri Lanka, at 9 a.m.
today, local time, where he was received by representatives of the religious
and civil authorities including the apostolic nuncio of Sri Lanka, Archbishop
Pierre Nguyen Van Tot, and the president of the country, Maithripala Sirisena.
Two young girls offered him a floral garland and he was welcomed with hymns
sung by a choir and greetings from around two thousand children.
 The welcome ceremony took place at the same airport, and following the
president's speech, the Pope addressed those present.
 "My visit to Sri Lanka is primarily pastoral", he began. "As the universal
pastor of the Catholic Church, I have come to meet, encourage and pray with
the Catholic people of this island. A highlight of this visit will be the
canonisation of Blessed Joseph Vaz, whose example of Christian charity and
respect for all people, regardless of ethnicity or religion, continues to
inspire and teach us today. But my visit is also meant to express the Church's
love and concern for all Sri Lankans, and to confirm the desire of the
Catholic community to be an active participant in the life of this society.
 "It is a continuing tragedy in our world that so many communities are at war
between themselves. The inability to reconcile differences and disagreements,
whether old or new, has given rise to ethnic and religious tensions,
frequently accompanied by outbreaks of violence. Sri Lanka for many years knew
the horrors of civil strife, and is now seeking to consolidate peace and to
heal the scars of those years. It is no easy task to overcome the bitter
legacy of injustice, hostility and mistrust left by the conflict. It can only
be done by overcoming evil with good and by cultivating those virtues which
foster reconciliation, solidarity and peace. The process of healing also needs
to include the pursuit of truth, not for the sake of opening old wounds, but
rather as a necessary means of promoting justice, healing and unity.
 "Dear friends, I am convinced that the followers of the various religious
traditions have an essential role to play in the delicate process of
reconciliation and rebuilding which is taking place in this country. For that
process to succeed, all members of society must work together; all must have a
voice. All must be free to express their concerns, their needs, their
aspirations and their fears. Most importantly, they must be prepared to accept
one another, to respect legitimate diversities, and learn to live as one
family. Whenever people listen to one another humbly and openly, their shared
values and aspirations become all the more apparent. Diversity is no longer
seen as a threat, but as a source of enrichment. The path to justice,
reconciliation and social harmony becomes all the more clearly seen.
 "In this sense, the great work of rebuilding must embrace improving
infrastructures and meeting material needs, but also, and even more
importantly, promoting human dignity, respect for human rights, and the full
inclusion of each member of society. It is my hope that Sri Lanka's political,
religious and cultural leaders, by measuring their every word and action by
the good and the healing it will bring, will make a lasting contribution to
the material and spiritual progress of the Sri Lankan people". The Pontiff
concluded, "Mr President, dear friends, I thank you once again for your
welcome. May these days we spend together be days of friendship, dialogue and
solidarity. I invoke an abundance of God's blessings upon Sri Lanka, the Pearl
of the Indian Ocean, and I pray that its beauty may shine forth in the
prosperity and peace of all its people".
 Following his address, the Holy Father made the 28-kilometre journey from the
airport to the apostolic nunciature in Colombo by car. The transfer took
longer than expected due to the large number of faithful who greeted the Pope
as he passed. He therefore cancelled the scheduled visit to the archbishop's
residence to meet with the twenty bishops of the Episcopal Conference of Sri
Lanka, whom he encountered recently in the Vatican. Cardinal Secretary of
State Pietro Parolin attended as the Pope's envoy.
 Upon arrival at the archbishop's residence, Pope Francis lunched privately,
after which he transferred by car to the presidential residence in Colombo to
pay a courtesy visit to President Maithripala Sirisena, with whom he had a
private discussion. The president subsequently accompanied the pontiff to the
great hall where there was a presentation by the State authorities and
dignitaries, and a short ceremony for the issue of commemorative stamps.

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 Interreligious meeting: religious beliefs must never be abused in the cause
of violence and war
 Vatican City, 13 January 2014 (VIS) - The second stage of Pope Francis'
apostolic trip to Sri Lanka was his visit to the BMICH (Bandaranaike Memorial
International Conference Hall) in Colombo, where he participated in a meeting
with representatives of other religious confessions.
 The main religious groups in the country are Buddhism (70% of the
population), Hinduism (12.6%), Islam (9.7%) and Catholicism (7.16%). From a
chronological perspective, Hinduism was the predominant belief on the island
until the arrival of Buddhist missionaries in the third century B.C.;
currently its followers are concentrated geographically in the north and east
of the country, and the majority belong to the Tamil ethnic group. Theravada
Buddhism reached the island in around 246 B.C., and was declared the official
religion around 200 B.C.; from the mid-nineteenth century onwards it enjoyed a
revival linked to national movements. Islam spread from the fifteenth century,
brought by Arab merchants who controlled the South Indian Ocean trade routes,
until the arrival of Franciscan missionaries along with the Portuguese.
According to tradition St. Thomas arrived on the island in the first century
after crossing Kerala in southern India. However, the earliest documentation
of Christianity on the island dates from 1322, when the Franciscan Odorico da
Pordenone stayed briefly, and then from 1517 onwards, with the arrival of
Franciscan missionaries.

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