The Sinhala head of the Catholic Church, Malcolm Ranjith, slammed any notion of foreign intervention, warning that the government's failure to resolve "issues", could trigger international investigations, reported Adaderana.  

In a pastoral letter issued today, the Archbishop wrote,

"Foreigners should not tell us what to do... We are not a pack of fools"

"But if we do not resolve these issues, then we open ourselves to foreign intervention."

His comments are reflective of an increasingly brazen and defiant tone within the Sinhala polity against any possibility of an international inquiry into the ethnic conflict, whilst Tamil calls for international intervention get stronger.

The Archbishop has been criticised for his lack of concern over the plight of Tamil clergy at the hands of the hands of the Sri Lankan military at the final stages of the armed conflict. He was touted as the possible new Pope earlier this year by Forbes magazine - see here.

Last year, as the Tamil Bishop of Mannar, appealed to the UN Human Rights Council about the on-going structural genocide taking place in the North-East, the Archbishop of the Catholic Church in Sri Lanka condemned the UNHRC's resolution calling for accountability and justice in Sri Lanka, asserting that  "such efforts by western powers is an insult on the intelligence of the people of Sri Lanka".

Previously, the then Cardinal Ranjith condemned a letter written by the Bishop of Mannar, Rayappu Joseph, which criticised the government, as not representative of Sri Lanka's Catholic Church.