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of honour to the President at the
courtyard of the Vatican. The President who was met
by Monsignor Michael Harvey, Prefect of the Papal Household,
was later escorted into the Vatican Palace by the Swiss
Guards, Cardinals and Chevaliers of the Holy See.
After the Papal Audience, President
Rajapaksa gifted the Pope with an ornamental silver
goblet (kendiya) engraved with traditional motifs. The
Pope gifted the President with a golden medal as a memento
of the visit. Later the members of the visiting delegation
from Sri Lanka were introduced to the Pope by the President.
The meeting between the Pope and
President was a strictly one to one event in keeping
with tradition.
Madhu Shrine
Later President Rajapaksa met with
Cardinal Tarcisco Bertone, the Vatican Secretary of
State, when there was a friendly and cordial exchange
of views regarding the situation prevailing in Sri Lanka.
In response to the interest in developments in Sri Lanka
expressed by Cardinal Bertone, President Rajapaksa explained
that the problem in Sri Lanka was not an ethnic or religious
conflict but a terrorist problem. He said the Government
was fully committed to a negotiated settlement to the
matters regarding the rights of the minorities, and
that the Government did not believe in any military
solution to the issue. The President said that whatever
military action being taken by the Government was meant
to contain the threat posed by terrorism.
President Rajapaksa further explained
that the All Party Representative Conference was deliberating
on proposals for a negotiated settlement and that the
Sri Lanka Freedom Party, which he heads, will shortly
present its own proposals to the APRC on the sharing
of power in the country.
In response to a request by Cardinal
Bertone, that facilities be allowed for pilgrims to
have easy access to the Madhu Church, President Rajapaksa
said he was eager to provide such facilities, but was
faced with fact of the Madhu Church being located in
an area under the control of the LTTE. President Rajapaksa
explained that as Prime Minister he too had wanted to
visit the Madhu Shrine, but the LTTE had objected to
his coming there with his official security. Eventually,
he had not gone to the Madhu Church in a situation where
he was refused his security personnel.
The Vatican Secretary of State expressed
his satisfaction about the religious amity that prevailed
in Sri Lanka and especially at the absence of any religious
wars in Sri Lanka for more than 500 years.
St. Peter’s Basilica
President Rajapaksa, Madam Rajapaksa
and the delegation from Sri Lanka were later taken on
a special tour of St. Peter’s Basilica, led by
Archbishop Dr. Malcolm Ranjith, Head of the Vatican’s
Congregation of the Liturgy, where the President and
members of the delegation viewed the Michaelangelo’s
sculpture of the “Pieta”, the sepulchre
of St. Peter, the tomb of Pope John Paul II, and other
historic monuments there.
The other members of the Sri
Lankan delegation were Cabinet Ministers Jeyaraj Fernandopulle,
Felix Perera, Milroy Fernando, Rohitha Bogollogama,
Deputy Ministers Naomal Perera and Sarath Kumara Gunaratne,
Minister of State Dayasritha Tissera, and Victor Perera,
Member Wayamba Provincial Council.
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