VATICAN INFORMATION SERVICE   
   YEAR XXII - # 007   
   DATE 13-01-2015   
      
   Summary:   
   - Francis begins his apostolic trip to Sri Lanka   
   - Interreligious meeting: religious beliefs must never be abused in the cause   
   of violence and war   
   - Pope's greetings to the presidents of Doctrinal Commissions of the European   
   Episcopal Conferences   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    Francis begins his apostolic trip to Sri Lanka   
    Vatican City, 13 January 2014 (VIS) - This morning Pope Francis began his   
   visit to Sri Lanka and the Philippines, the seventh apostolic trip of his   
   papacy. Like his predecessor St. John Paul II, he will visit the two Asian   
   countries with the greatest number of Catholics in a single trip. The visit to   
   Sri Lanka will last for two days and will include an interreligious meeting,   
   the canonisation of Joseph Vaz and a Marian prayer at the shrine of Our Lady   
   of Madhu. During his three-day visit to the Philippines the Holy Father will   
   meet, among others, victims of the typhoon Yolanda. The last day of his trip   
   will coincide with the feast day of the Holy Child of Cebu in the Philippines,   
   whose shrine receives millions of pilgrims.   
    The Holy Father, who left from Rome's Fiumicino airport at 6.50 p.m.   
   yesterday evening, and arrived in Colombo, the capital of Sri Lanka, at 9 a.m.   
   today, local time, where he was received by representatives of the religious   
   and civil authorities including the apostolic nuncio of Sri Lanka, Archbishop   
   Pierre Nguyen Van Tot, and the president of the country, Maithripala Sirisena.   
   Two young girls offered him a floral garland and he was welcomed with hymns   
   sung by a choir and greetings from around two thousand children.   
    The welcome ceremony took place at the same airport, and following the   
   president's speech, the Pope addressed those present.   
    "My visit to Sri Lanka is primarily pastoral", he began. "As the universal   
   pastor of the Catholic Church, I have come to meet, encourage and pray with   
   the Catholic people of this island. A highlight of this visit will be the   
   canonisation of Blessed Joseph Vaz, whose example of Christian charity and   
   respect for all people, regardless of ethnicity or religion, continues to   
   inspire and teach us today. But my visit is also meant to express the Church's   
   love and concern for all Sri Lankans, and to confirm the desire of the   
   Catholic community to be an active participant in the life of this society.   
    "It is a continuing tragedy in our world that so many communities are at war   
   between themselves. The inability to reconcile differences and disagreements,   
   whether old or new, has given rise to ethnic and religious tensions,   
   frequently accompanied by outbreaks of violence. Sri Lanka for many years knew   
   the horrors of civil strife, and is now seeking to consolidate peace and to   
   heal the scars of those years. It is no easy task to overcome the bitter   
   legacy of injustice, hostility and mistrust left by the conflict. It can only   
   be done by overcoming evil with good and by cultivating those virtues which   
   foster reconciliation, solidarity and peace. The process of healing also needs   
   to include the pursuit of truth, not for the sake of opening old wounds, but   
   rather as a necessary means of promoting justice, healing and unity.   
    "Dear friends, I am convinced that the followers of the various religious   
   traditions have an essential role to play in the delicate process of   
   reconciliation and rebuilding which is taking place in this country. For that   
   process to succeed, all members of society must work together; all must have a   
   voice. All must be free to express their concerns, their needs, their   
   aspirations and their fears. Most importantly, they must be prepared to accept   
   one another, to respect legitimate diversities, and learn to live as one   
   family. Whenever people listen to one another humbly and openly, their shared   
   values and aspirations become all the more apparent. Diversity is no longer   
   seen as a threat, but as a source of enrichment. The path to justice,   
   reconciliation and social harmony becomes all the more clearly seen.   
    "In this sense, the great work of rebuilding must embrace improving   
   infrastructures and meeting material needs, but also, and even more   
   importantly, promoting human dignity, respect for human rights, and the full   
   inclusion of each member of society. It is my hope that Sri Lanka's political,   
   religious and cultural leaders, by measuring their every word and action by   
   the good and the healing it will bring, will make a lasting contribution to   
   the material and spiritual progress of the Sri Lankan people". The Pontiff   
   concluded, "Mr President, dear friends, I thank you once again for your   
   welcome. May these days we spend together be days of friendship, dialogue and   
   solidarity. I invoke an abundance of God's blessings upon Sri Lanka, the Pearl   
   of the Indian Ocean, and I pray that its beauty may shine forth in the   
   prosperity and peace of all its people".   
    Following his address, the Holy Father made the 28-kilometre journey from the   
   airport to the apostolic nunciature in Colombo by car. The transfer took   
   longer than expected due to the large number of faithful who greeted the Pope   
   as he passed. He therefore cancelled the scheduled visit to the archbishop's   
   residence to meet with the twenty bishops of the Episcopal Conference of Sri   
   Lanka, whom he encountered recently in the Vatican. Cardinal Secretary of   
   State Pietro Parolin attended as the Pope's envoy.   
    Upon arrival at the archbishop's residence, Pope Francis lunched privately,   
   after which he transferred by car to the presidential residence in Colombo to   
   pay a courtesy visit to President Maithripala Sirisena, with whom he had a   
   private discussion. The president subsequently accompanied the pontiff to the   
   great hall where there was a presentation by the State authorities and   
   dignitaries, and a short ceremony for the issue of commemorative stamps.   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    Interreligious meeting: religious beliefs must never be abused in the cause   
   of violence and war   
    Vatican City, 13 January 2014 (VIS) - The second stage of Pope Francis'   
   apostolic trip to Sri Lanka was his visit to the BMICH (Bandaranaike Memorial   
   International Conference Hall) in Colombo, where he participated in a meeting   
   with representatives of other religious confessions.   
    The main religious groups in the country are Buddhism (70% of the   
   population), Hinduism (12.6%), Islam (9.7%) and Catholicism (7.16%). From a   
   chronological perspective, Hinduism was the predominant belief on the island   
   until the arrival of Buddhist missionaries in the third century B.C.;   
   currently its followers are concentrated geographically in the north and east   
   of the country, and the majority belong to the Tamil ethnic group. Theravada   
   Buddhism reached the island in around 246 B.C., and was declared the official   
   religion around 200 B.C.; from the mid-nineteenth century onwards it enjoyed a   
   revival linked to national movements. Islam spread from the fifteenth century,   
   brought by Arab merchants who controlled the South Indian Ocean trade routes,   
   until the arrival of Franciscan missionaries along with the Portuguese.   
   According to tradition St. Thomas arrived on the island in the first century   
   after crossing Kerala in southern India. However, the earliest documentation   
   of Christianity on the island dates from 1322, when the Franciscan Odorico da   
   Pordenone stayed briefly, and then from 1517 onwards, with the arrival of   
   Franciscan missionaries.   
      
   --- MPost/386 v1.21   
    * Origin: Sursum Corda! BBS=Huntsville AL=bbs.sursum-corda.com (1:396/45)