News

Pope asks Sri Lanka to reveal identity of Easter Sunday attackers | Sri Lanka Bombing News


Pope Francis called on the island nation to name the bombers behind a series of attacks in 2019 that the Catholic Church suspects was a conspiracy.

Pope Francis has urged Sri Lankan authorities to reveal who is behind the country’s 2019 Bombs on Easter Sunday During an attack, Catholics on the island suspected of being a conspiracies promote President Gotabaya Rajapaksa came to power.

While meeting with a delegation of more than 60 victims of the attacks on three churches and three hotels killing more than 270 peopleOn Monday, Francis asked Rajapaksa’s government to reveal the truth.

“Please, for the love of justice, for the love of your people, make this clear once and for all who are responsible for these events,” the pope said in a statement. the Colombo call.

“This will bring peace to your conscience and to your country.”

Addressing some 3,500 Sri Lankans in Italy, including some of the victims, the pope also said he prayed that Sri Lanka would also be able to make it through. The worst economic crisis in its history.

Pope meets Sri Lankan victim
Pope Francis meets with members of the Sri Lankan community living in Italy [Remo Casilli/Reuters]

The island is plagued by severe food, fuel and medicine shortages with its 22 million residents struggling with daily power outages and hyperinflation.

The head of the Catholic Church of Sri Lanka, Malcolm Ranjith, who conducted Mass at St Peter’s Basilica shortly before meeting the pope on Monday, has called for “justice and change” in the country. your.

“We want the international community to emphasize that, before giving aid to Sri Lanka, the government has to realize that it has to change the way things have been done,” he told Vatican Radio.

Last month, Cardinal Ranjith urged the United Nations Human Rights Council to set up a mechanism to investigate the 2019 suicide bombings that Colombo blamed on local Muslim groups.

“The first impression of this massacre was that it was completely the work of some radical Islamists,” Ranjith said.

“However, subsequent investigations indicated that this massacre was part of a major political conspiracy.”

The cardinal suggested that the attacks helped Rajapaksa emerge as a “national security candidate” and win the elections in November 2019.

Ranjith has accused Rajapaksa’s government of shielding named military intelligence agents in two separate, yet fruitless, local investigations.

Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court in February acquitted two top officials accused of “crimes against humanity” for failing to prevent the Easter Sunday bombings.

Thilina Harshani, 38, from Negombo, survived the attack at the Katuwapitiya church but lost her 7-year-old son, was blind in her left eye and paralyzed from the waist down.

Harshani was a dancer and dance teacher before the explosion and she is now searching for the truth, because “we want to know who did this and why we have to suffer so much. ,” she said.

Pradeep Susanta, 48, also from Negombo, lost his entire family in the attack: three children and a wife.

Bishop Winston Fernando, head of the Sri Lanka bishops’ conference, explained: “We wanted the truth to be revealed from the very beginning and then justice would be served to the victims of the tragedy.



Source link

news7h

News7h: Update the world's latest breaking news online of the day, breaking news, politics, society today, international mainstream news .Updated news 24/7: Entertainment, Sports...at the World everyday world. Hot news, images, video clips that are updated quickly and reliably

Related Articles

Back to top button