Church leaders protest Sri Lankan political exploitation of Pope's scheduled visit in January

November 26, 2014

Church officials in Sri Lanka have cautioned the government against using a January visit by Pope Francis to boost the re-election campaign of President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

In October, when the government announced a surprise election to be held in January, Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith of Colombo questioned whether the papal visit already scheduled for that month should be postponed. Ordinarily the Vatican is careful not to schedule papal travel so that Pontiff's visits do not occur close to national elections, in order to avoid potential political complications. But the government insisted that the visit should go ahead as planned.

Now supporters of President Rajapaksa, who is seeking an unprecedented 3rd term, have circulated campaign posters that show the president meeting with Pope Francis; the posters bear the caption: “Blessings of the Holy Father.” The organizing committee for the papal visit has protested the posters. “We earnestly request respective authorities and persons to remove those political posters and cut-outs immediately and urge all the political groups to refrain from using either the Holy Father or his visit to Sri Lanka for the political campaign of the presidential election,” the organizers wrote.

The Pope is due to visit Sri Lanka from January 12 to 15, then continue on to the Philippines before returning to Rome on January 19.

 

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Further information:

• Sri Lanka's Catholic Church urges government not to use pope's visit to help election campaign (Reuters)
• Papal visit to Sri Lanka on schedule despite presidential election? (CWN, 11/3)