President Mahinda Rajapaksa has left Sri Lanka for a visit to the Vatican, on an invitation by The Holy See.
The president is expected to meet Pope Francis on Friday, before talks with Cardinal Parolin, who is secretary of state and prime minister of The Holy See.
Pope Francis is due to visit Sri Lanka in January next year.
Rajapaksa will be accompanied by Minister of External Affairs G. L. Peiris, Deputy Minister of External Affairs Neomal Perera, Chief Opposition Whip John Amaratunga, Monitoring MP of the Ministry of External Affairs Sajin de Vass Gunawardena and Secretary to the Ministry of External Affairs Kshenuka Senewiratne.
Related articles:
Pope to visit Mannar's Madhu shrine (26 August 2014)
Vatican confirms Pope visit to Sri Lanka (30 July 2014)
Tamil civil society groups urge Pope to visit North-East (14 July 2014)
We need your support
Sri Lanka is one of the most dangerous places in the world to be a journalist. Tamil journalists are particularly at threat, with at least 41 media workers known to have been killed by the Sri Lankan state or its paramilitaries during and after the armed conflict.
Despite the risks, our team on the ground remain committed to providing detailed and accurate reporting of developments in the Tamil homeland, across the island and around the world, as well as providing expert analysis and insight from the Tamil point of view
We need your support in keeping our journalism going. Support our work today.
For more ways to donate visit https://donate.tamilguardian.com.
