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Cardinal denies helping Government to power

09 Sep 2021

By Buddhika Samaraweera Archbishop of Colombo His Eminence Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith stated that the Catholic Church had never supported the incumbent Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP)-led Government or President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to come to power but had only criticised the then United National Front (UNF)-led Government. “We only criticised the Government at the time of the Easter Sunday terror attacks because they knew about the attacks but did not prevent it and did not arrest the perpetrators. In that context, if anyone thought that we supported the current Government, it would be a misinterpretation,” the Cardinal clarified.  The Archbishop stated this addressing a media briefing at the Archbishop’s House in Colombo on Wednesday (8). Speaking further, he said that they were not even prepared to meet any presidential candidate during that time. “At the time of the Presidential Election, we were not prepared to welcome any presidential candidate from any political party through the gates of the Archbishop’s House. We defended our neutrality,” he emphasised. “There was even a newspaper cartoon in which it was shown that the gate of the Archbishop’s House was locked, and the then presidential candidates Gotabaya Rajapaksa (incumbent President), Sajith Premadasa (incumbent Opposition Leader) and Anura Kumara Dissanayake (incumbent National People’s Power Leader) were standing outside the gate.” The Archbishop further said that he had never called on the people to vote for any party, but had instead said that the previous UNF-led Government had not fulfilled its obligations. “So the candidates said that they would change the situation and ensure national security in the country. That is just what they have said, and not something I have said,” he noted. Earlier in the same press conference, the Archbishop revealed that the Catholic Church has told the international community that justice has not been meted out to the victims of the Easter Sunday attacks of 2019, and that there are attempts by the Government to undermine the investigation. The Archbishop made these remarks with regard to reports that the Government has sought an audience with Pope Francis at the Vatican, the centre of the Roman Catholic Church, to brief him on the progress made in the investigation into the attacks.


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