Must read...those who cry Hindu terrorism...Saffron terrorism need to read this. Please click on the link and share. Hindus are being stonewalled for no fault... Many Buddhists argue that the Catholic Church supported and promoted LTTE for over three decades, especially in western countries. The Bishop of Mannar Rayappu Joseph is a well-known sympathizer and supporter of the LTTE. Ironically, the Madhu Church has been built on top of ‘Pattini Devale’, a Hindu temple of the Tamils destroyed by the Portuguese. So this event is hardly symbolic of reconciliation in post-war Sri Lanka. President Rajapakse and his brother Defence Secretary Gotabaya, have been very keen for the Pope to visit Sri Lanka, even though they are seen, especially abroad, as staunch Buddhist nationalists. Immediately after the announcement of the presidential elections, posters appeared all over Colombo with the picture of President Rajapakse meeting Pope Francis in Rome with captions projecting the visit as a symbol of reconciliation with the Pope coming to bless Sri Lanka. The Catholic Church leaders in Sri Lanka were upset over the use of the Pope’s image in electioneering and asked the government to pull down these billboards. Meanwhile, they have also had one-to-one meetings with the president and his main rival Maithripala Sirisena asking for guarantees of post-election peace to facilitate the Pope’s visit. However, many Buddhists believe, though this is not articulated in the mainstream media, that the Catholic Church may have a secret agenda in promoting Pope’s visit at such a crucial time where pre-poll violence is on the increase. One school of thought is that Cardinal Ranjith, who is very close to the Vatican hierarchy, as well as the Rajapakse family, may have cut a deal with the government to get the Vatican’s support to get off the UN Human Rights Council’s agenda, war crimes allegation against the Rajapakse regime. In return the regime will facilitate a great propaganda coup for the church in canonizing South Asia’s first saint, that will help to rid the church of the label in the region of an European colonial institution. “The decision to invite the Pope was done without any public consultation,” complains lawyer and Buddhist activist Senaka Weeraratne, reflecting concerns of many Buddhists in the country. “The Pope is on record expressing his glee at the inroads his religion is making into traditional Buddhist space (in Asia). Therefore, what is his game plan for Sri Lanka becomes a legitimate question?” indepthnews.info/index.php/global-issues/2300-pope-francis-sri-lanka-mission-unleashes-controversy
Posted on: Sat, 27 Dec 2014 12:06:01 +0000
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