RC Church requests Govt. to postpone poll

The Roman Catholic Church in Sri Lanka had asked the government to postpone the proposed presidential elections at least till the end of January, a report from Vatican said yesterday.

The statement issued by the Vatican News agency in this regard read as follow-:

Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, Archbishop of Colombo, during a meeting with the priests of the Archdiocese of Colombo, confirmed the Holy Father’ visit in Sri Lanka, scheduled for January 13-15, 2015.As Fides learns, the Cardinal asked the priests present to inform the faithful in parishes and Catholic institutions that the Pope’s trip would take place, and encouraged the faithful to pray for his visit. The Archbishop informed that the Episcopal Conference and the Holy See were working on the details and that the programme will be defined during the preparatory visit of a Vatican delegation to Sri Lanka in early November. In recent weeks, he said, the Bishops discussed with relevant government authorities on safety measures to be implemented. In recent days, there have been doubts and concerns about the Pope’s visit, given that the presidential election in the country would be held soon and that the current President, Mahinda Rajapaksa, could set them for January, in the days immediately before or after Pope Francis’s visit. The Church asks that the vote to be postponed at least to the end of January 2015, to avoid any kind of exploitation of the visit by the Holy Father to the island.