( Vatican Radio) Pope Francis arrived in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on Tuesday morning, at the beginning of a week-long visit to Asia that will see him in both Sri Lanka and the Philippines. The Holy Father arrived to pomp and circumstance: traditional dancers, a children’s choir performing an especially composed hymn to mark the visit,…
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( Vatican Radio) Pope Francis arrived in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on Tuesday morning, at the beginning of a week-long visit to Asia that will see him in both Sri Lanka and the Philippines. The Holy Father arrived to pomp and circumstance: traditional dancers, a children’s choir performing an especially composed hymn to mark the visit,…
Read more
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis arrived in Colombo , Sri Lanka, on Tuesday morning, beginning the first leg of a week-long visit to Sri Lanka and the Philippines. Below, please find the full text and audio of the Holy Father’s remarks at the arrival ceremony at the international airport of the Sri Lankan capital.
Click below to listen to the Holy Father’s speech at the arrival ceremony in Colombo, Sri Lanka
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Address of His Holiness Pope Francis
Arrival Ceremony
Colombo, 13 January 2015
Mr President,
Honourable Government Authorities,
Your Eminence, Your Excellencies,
Dear Friends,
I thank you for your warm welcome. I have looked forward to this visit to Sri Lanka and these days which we will spend together. Sri Lanka is known as the Pearl of the Indian Ocean for its natural beauty. Even more importantly, this island is known for the warmth of its people and the rich diversity of their cultural and religious traditions.
Mr President, I extend to you my best wishes for your new responsibilities. I greet the distinguished members of the government and civil authorities who honour us by their presence. I am especially grateful for the presence of the eminent religious leaders who play so important a role in the life of this country. And of course, I would like to express my appreciation to the faithful, the members of the choir, and the many people who helped make this visit possible. I thank you all, from the heart, for your kindness and hospitality.
My visit to Sri Lanka is primarily pastoral. As the universal pastor of the Catholic Church, I have come to meet, encourage and pray with the Catholic people of this island. A highlight of this visit will be the canonization of Blessed Joseph Vaz, whose example of Christian charity and respect for all people, regardless of ethnicity or religion, continues to inspire and teach us today. But my visit is also meant to express the Church’s love and concern for all Sri Lankans, and to confirm the desire of the Catholic community to be an active participant in the life of this society.
It is a continuing tragedy in our world that so many communities are at war with themselves. The inability to reconcile differences and disagreements, whether old or new, has given rise to ethnic and religious tensions, frequently accompanied by outbreaks of violence. Sri Lanka for many years knew the horrors of civil strife, and is now seeking to consolidate peace and to heal the scars of those years. It is no easy task to overcome the bitter legacy of injustices, hostility and mistrust left by the conflict. It can only be done by overcoming evil with good (cf. Rom 12:21) and by cultivating those virtues which foster reconciliation, solidarity and peace. The process of healing also needs to include the pursuit of truth, not for the sake of opening old wounds, but rather as a necessary means of promoting justice, healing and unity.
Dear friends, I am convinced that the followers of the various religious traditions have an essential role to play in the delicate process of reconciliation and rebuilding which is taking place in this country. For that process to succeed, all members of society must work together; all must have a voice. All must be free to express their concerns, their needs, their aspirations and their fears. Most importantly, they must be prepared to accept one another, to respect legitimate diversities, and learn to live as one family. Whenever people listen to one another humbly and openly, their shared values and aspirations become all the more apparent. Diversity is no longer seen as a threat, but as a source of enrichment. The path to justice, reconciliation and social harmony becomes all the more clearly seen.
In this sense, the great work of rebuilding must embrace improving infrastructures and meeting material needs, but also, and even more importantly, promoting human dignity, respect for human rights, and the full inclusion of each member of society. It is my hope that Sri Lanka’s political, religious and cultural leaders, by measuring their every word and action by the good and the healing it will bring, will make a lasting contribution to the material and spiritual progress of the Sri Lankan people.
Mr President, dear friends, I thank you once again for your welcome. May these days we spend together be days of friendship, dialogue and solidarity. I invoke an abundance of God’s blessings upon Sri Lanka, the Pearl of the Indian Ocean, and I pray that its beauty may shine forth in the prosperity and peace of all its people.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis was scheduled to leave on Monday evening for the 7th Apostolic Trip of his Pontificate. The first stop of his two-nation journey is Sri Lanka, after which he will go to the Philippines. This follows his 2014 trip to Korea for the 6th Asian Youth Day.
The Apostolic Nuncio to Sri Lanka, Archbishop Pierre Nguyên Van Tot, told Vatican Radio that despite its small Catholic population, the continent is receptive to the message of Pope Francis.
Listen to the full interview by Fr. Louis Xystus Jerome, SJ, with Archbishop Pierre Nguyên Van Tot:
“I think that many people from Asia – China and Vietnam, and Sri Lanka… Japan, Korea – want to follow his teaching, and to build a good society in every country,” he said.
Archbishop Nguyên Van Tot highlighted Wednesday’s scheduled visit to the Marian Shrine of Our Lady of Madhu, located in the northern of the country, which has a large Tamil population.
The Nuncio said the shrine was a “principal centre” for the whole country: Catholics belonging to the Sinhalese majority visit the shrine, as well as Catholics from the Tamil minority.
“It was not apparitions [which made the shrine famous], but there was a great devotion from the people, and they received many graces,” said Archbishop Nguyên Van Tot.
He added that other religions also appreciate the shrine, and he expects many non-Christians to arrive at Wednesday’s prayer service to “pray with the Holy Father.”
(from Vatican Radio)…
Vatican City, 11 January 2014 (VIS) – This morning in the Sistine Chapel the Holy Father presided at a Eucharistic celebration during which he baptised thirty-three children of Vatican employees. In his homily, citing the first reading, the Pope remarked that the Lord is concerned for his children, like a parent, and therefore ensures they receive substantial nourishment. “God, like a good father or a good mother, wishes to give good things to his children. And what is this nourishment that God gives us? It is His Word”. The Word “enables us to grow and to be fruitful in life, like the rain and the snow are good for the earth and make it fecund. Therefore you, parents and godparents, grandparents, aunts and uncles, will help these children to grow well if you give them the Word of God, te Gospel of Jesus. And also offer this to them by example! Every day, get used to reading a passage from the Gospel, a short one, and always carry a copy of the Gospel in your pocket, in your bag, so you can read it. And this will be an example for your children – seeing their father, mother, godparents, grandfather, grandmother, aunts and uncles all reading the Word of God”. “You, mothers, give you children milk – and even now, if they cry with hunger, feel free to feed them. Let us give thanks to the Lord for the gift of milk and pray for those mothers – there are many, unfortunately – who are not able to give their children food to eat. Let us pray and try to help these mothers. So, what the milk does for the body, the Word of God does for the spirit: the Word of God enables faith to grow. As we heard in the words of the apostle John: ‘Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is begotten by God”. Your children are baptised in this faith. Today it is your faith, dear parents and godparents. It is the faith of the Church, in which these little ones will receive Baptism. But tomorrow, but the grace of God, it will be their faith, their personal ‘yes’ to Jesus Christ, who gives us the love of the Father”. He continued, “Baptism brings us within the body of the Church, as part of God’s holy people. And in this body, in this journeying people, faith is transmitted from generation to generation: it is the faith of the Church. It is the faith of Mary, our mother, the faith of St. Joseph, of St. Peter, of St. Andrew, of St. John, of the apostles and the martyrs, that has arrived with us through Baptism: a chain that transmits faith”. “The candle of faith is passed from one hand to another”, explained the Pope, alluding to the Paschal candle that is lit during Baptismal rites and which represents Christ, resurrected and living in our midst. You, families, take from Him this light of faith to transmit to your children. You take this light from the Church, the body of Christ, the people of God that journeys through every time and every place. Teach your children that it is not possible to be Christian outside the Church, and it is not possible to follow Christ outside the Church, as the Church is our mother, and lets us grow in the love of Jesus Christ”. Francis then turned to the final aspect to emerge from today’s biblical readings: that in Baptism we are consecrated in the Holy Spirit. “The word ‘Christian’ means consecrated like Jesus, in the same Spirit in which Jesus was immersed in all his earthly existence. He is the ‘Christ’, the anointed, the consecrated, and the baptised are Christians, that is, consecrated, anointed. And therefore, dear parents and godparents, if you want your children to become true Christians, help them to grow ‘immersed’ in the Holy Spirit, that is, in the warmth of God’s love, in the light of His Word”….