Nuncio: Clergy will not abandon Sri Lanka ‘emergency zone’

February 06, 2009

In an interview with this morning’s edition of L’Osservatore Romano, Archbishop Mario Zenari, apostolic nuncio in Sri Lanka, said that clergy and religious would not abandon the population in the nation’s “emergency zone” despite a government invitation to leave. Victory appears close at hand for the Sri Lankan government, which has fought a civil war against the separatist LTTE (Tamil Tigers) since 1983. As the government launches a final assault on the LTTE, Archbishop Zenari estimates that 250,000 civilians have fled their homes. The remaining civilians risk becoming human shields, and “the presence of the Church and the Red Cross,” he says, “strengthens their will to survive.”

 

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Further information:

• Intervista al nunzio apostolico Mario Zenari: La fedele missione della Chiesa in Sri Lanka accanto alla popolazione (L’Osservatore Romano)
• Pope pleas for peace in Sri Lanka, as priests are asked to leave battle zone (CWN, Feb 4)