Fr
Lombardi on positive impact of Pope's visit to Sri Lanka
(Vatican Radio) Travelling with Pope Francis on his pastoral
visit to Sri Lanka and the Philippines this week is the head of the Holy See
press office, Fr Federico Lombardi. He talked to our colleague and
correspondent for this trip, Fr Louis Xystus Jerome, about his impressions of
the first events on the Pope’s agenda following his arrival in Colombo on
Tuesday….
Fr Lombardi said the first day of the visit was a very positive
surprise for him as he had not expected such a wonderful reception for the
Pope. He said the atmosphere with the new president, following the peaceful
elections in Sri Lanka, is “very positive with expectations of something new in
the sense of reconciliation” and the rights of minorities. The Pope, he
continued, brings encouragement and inspiration, so that the president is right
when he says the visit is also a blessing for him at the very beginning of his
mission
Fr Lombardi also
commented on the interreligious encounter on Tuesday with a large presence of
Buddhist monks who did not attend a similar meeting during the visit of John
Paul II to the island twenty years ago. He noted that there were more than a
thousand religious leaders at the meeting with Pope Francis and he said this
had a real impact in a society like Sri Lanka where “people are attentive to
the religious dimension”. The Pope comes as a Christian leader, in harmony with
the Buddhist, Hindu and Muslim leaders on the island and this “is something
historic for the people here”.
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