Sunday Times 2
Pope’s date with Lankans
View(s):Pope Francis last Saturday met a group of Sri Lankans living in Italy and accepted an invitation to visit their country without however specifying a date for the visit.
Calling for reconciliation in Sri Lanka, the pontiff said: “It is not easy, I know, to heal the wounds and cooperate with yesterday’s enemy to build tomorrow together, but it is the only path that gives hope for the future, hope for development and hope for peace.”
“I ask the Lord to grant you the gift of peace and reconciliation,” he said in an audience at St Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican. He also thanked Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, the archbishop of Colombo, for the invitation to visit the island nation.
“I accept it and believe the Lord will give us this grace,” the pope said.
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