Sri Lankan Church adopts new stance after Easter carnage

Father Reid Shelton Fernando, Colombo

Security personnel stand guard at St. Anthony's Shrine in Colombo on April 23, 2019, two days after a series of bomb blasts ripped through churches and luxury hotels in Sri Lanka. (Photo: Jewel Samad/AFP)

Recent months have seen a great deal of debate and controversy in Sri Lanka. In the first week of February, the Presidential Commission of Inquiry's final report into the Easter 2019 bombings was handed over to the president. The opposition with one voice demanded that it be tabled in the legislature. It took some time to do so, withholding some volumes over security concerns.

Only later was one volume containing the recommendations handed over to religious leaders including heads of the Buddhist hierarchy and Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith of Colombo.

One of the key factors that the Church requested was that the key culprits of the Easter carnage be unveiled. Up to now this campaign was directed by Cardinal Ranjith. From the day of the suicide bombings of three churches and three hotels — April 21, 2019 — he took all the initiatives to help those who were affected.

In early March, the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Sri Lanka (CBCSL) called an extraordinary session and declared that it would undertake campaigning for justice in the country.

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