COLOMBO (Reuters) – Pope Francis arrives in Sri Lanka today for a visit expected to add to a new harmonious atmosphere in the Buddhist-majority nation that last week elected a government promising increased respect for long-suffering religious minorities.
The visit to Sri Lanka is the first leg of a January 12-19 tour that also takes in the Philippines and is the Pope’s second Asian excursion, part of his outreach aimed at shoring-up the Church’s presence in developing nations.
Francis is the first Pope to visit Sri Lanka since the 2009 end of a bitter civil war that pitted mostly Hindu Tamils from the north against the majority Sinhala population, and his visit coincides with an election that defeated the wartime leadership.
Before his departure yesterday, Francis said the visit reflected his “interest and pastoral concern” for the people of the region.
“To them and to their governments, I wish to voice yet again the desire of the Holy See to offer its own contribution of service to the common good, to harmony and social concord,” he told diplomats at the Vatican.
