Pope: Sri Lanka, the pearl and the tears consecrated to Our Lady of Tewatte
Vatican City ( AsiaNews) - Sri Lanka,
"the Pearl of the Indian Ocean", where "many tears have been
shed in recent years" due to the conflict with the Tamil Tigers , has
"a special place in my prayers", said Pope Francis as he met a group
of faithful, led by Card. Malcolm
Ranjith, Archbishop of Colombo, along with other bishops. The
group arrived in Rome on a pilgrimage to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the
consecration of Sri Lanka to the Virgin. To
further emphasize this occasion, at the end of the Year of Faith, Card. Ranjith
launched "Marian Year" for all the faithful of the island.
As
the Pope himself explained: "Seventy-five
years ago, the dark clouds of what would be the second world conflict were thickening
in the skies and the faithful, guided by a sure intuition of faith, entrusted
themselves to Our Lady, who always defends her children from dangers. In 1940,
in the dramatic circumstances of the war, the Archbishop of Colombo, Mgr
Jean-Marie Masson, of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate, made a vow to build a
shrine in honour of Our Lady if the island were preserved from foreign
invasion. So it came about, and after the end of the war the beautiful Shrine
of Our Lady of Lanka at Tewatte was built, and was consecrated forty years ago".
The
Pope recalled the painful history of Sri Lanka in recent decades, bloodied by
fierce fighting between Tamil separatist groups and the regular army (1983 -
2009) of which the country and the people still bear the wounds.
"Your
homeland - said the Pope - is called the Pearl
of the Indian Ocean, on account of its natural beauty and its shape. They say
that the pearl is formed from the tears of the oyster. Unfortunately, many tears
have been shed in recent years, on account of the internal conflict which
caused so many victims and so much damage. It is not easy, I know, to heal the
wounds and cooperate with yesterday's enemy to build tomorrow together, but it
is the only path that gives hope for the future, for development and for peace.
For this reason, I assure you that you have a particular place in my prayer. I
ask the Lord to grant you the gift of peace and reconciliation, and to help you
in your effort to ensure a better future for all who live in Sri Lanka".
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