Sunday Times 2
50 years of diplomacy between the Holy See and Sri Lanka
View(s):Sri Lanka and the Holy See will commemorate the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two states.
To mark the occasion, Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, Secretary for Relations with States and International Organizations of the Holy See (Minister of Foreign Affairs), will visit Sri Lanka from November 3-8 at the invitation of the government and the Catholic Bishops’ Conference in Sri Lanka.
Archbishop Gallagher will meet President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, Prime Minister Harini Amarasuriya, and Minister of Foreign Affairs Vijitha Herath. He will deliver a public lecture on Tuesday, Nov 4, at the Galle Face Hotel, Colombo. A Thanksgiving Mass presided over by Archbishop Gallagher and concelebrated by the Catholic Bishops of Sri Lanka, will take place on Wednesday, Nov 5, at St Lucia’s Cathedral, Kotahena. This will be attended by Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith, Archbishop of Colombo; government officials, members of the diplomatic corps, and the faithful.
Archbishop Gallagher will travel to Kandy for a fraternal visit to Buddhist religious authorities, including the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic.
He will visit the Cathedral of Kandy and celebrate Holy Mass at the Chapel of the Catholic National Seminary, Ampitiya on Nov 7.
Formal diplomatic relations between the Holy See and Sri Lanka were established on Sep 6, 1975 through a Papal Bull issued by Pope Paul VI, who appointed Archbishop Carlo Curis as the first Apostolic Pro Nuncio to Sri Lanka.
Since then, the Apostolic Nunciature has served as a bridge of cooperation between the Vatican and the Sri Lankan people, with its first office located at 1, Gower Street, Colombo 5.
The bonds between the two states trace back to the 16th century, during the Portuguese Padroado system and later under the Congregation of Propaganda Fide. Over the decades, Sri Lanka has been blessed with three Papal visits; Saint Pope Paul VI (1970), Saint Pope John Paul II (1995), Pope Francis (2015), each reaffirming the spiritual and diplomatic ties between the Holy See and Sri Lanka.