The Archbishop of Colombo, Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, called a special press conference on Wednesday (September 8) and accused the Prime Minister and the Minister of Foreign Affairs of visiting the Vatican and covering up the investigation into the Easter attack.
“We call this journey by the Prime Minister, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the delegation accompanying them a pragmatic one. And I strongly condemn that arrangement. ”
Ahead of the Archbishop’s statement, Cabinet Spokesman Minister Ramesh Pathirana had stated that Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa and Foreign Minister GL Peiris would visit the Vatican to report to Pope Francis on the progress of the investigation into the Easter attack.
The cardinal strongly condemned the visit as “just another trump card in the government’s campaign to cover up the truth” to mislead foreign countries as well as the pope. “We have informed the international community that we do not see justice being done to the victims unless this government tries to cover up the investigation. ”
Hours after the cardinals’ harsh words accusing the government of trying to lie to the international community, including the Catholic Church, the foreign ministry said the prime minister would not meet with the pope during his visit to Italy.
The Ministry of External Affairs announced that the purpose of the visit of the Prime Minister and the two Foreign Ministers was only to attend the inaugural ceremony of a conference in Bologna.