Pope Francis begins first South Asia tour

One major highlight of the Pope's visit will be the first canonization of a Sri Lankan saint. On the trip's second leg, his events are expected to draw huge crowds in the mostly Catholic Philippines.

Deutsche Welle, 12 Jan 2015

Pope Francis has arrived in Colombo on his first pilgrimage to South Asia, bringing a message of interfaith and interethnic peace on his week-long trip to Sri Lanka and the Philippines. The pope's second Asia tour, after his travels to South Korea in August, is part of a push to shore up Church presence in developing nations.

Francis spoke of his "interest and pastoral concern" for the people of the region, where he is expected to take part in large interreligious meetings, give a speech, and canonize Sri Lanka's first saint. Reverend Joseph Vaz was a 17th century missionary credited with reviving the Catholic faith among both the majority Sinhalese and minority Tamils, who were facing persecution at the hands of their Dutch Calvinist colonial rulers.

Catholics make up just 7 percent of the island nation's 20 million inhabitants, but counts both Sinhalese, who are mostly Buddhist, and Tamils, who are mostly Hindu, among its numbers, and so the Sri Lankan Church sees itself as a source of national unity.

Reconciliation and interfaith dialogue

The Pope will be the first Bishop of Rome to visit Sri Lanka since the end of its three-decade civil war in 2009, and the first ever to visit and pray in the Tamil-dominated north of the country. He is expected to lead prayers with the families of both Tamil and Singhalese victims of the sectarian violence with pitted the rebel Tamil Tigers against the government.

Pope Francis will likely call for greater reconciliation between the nation's two major ethic groups as well as more dialogue between Sri Lankan Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims and Christian amid a surge in anti-Muslim violence by fundamentalist Buddhists.

This visit marks the first official reception by new President Maithripala Sirisena, the opposition leader who became the surprise victor of Sri Lanka's January 8 presidential elections, ushering in a new post-war era.

Francis will continue on to the Philippines on Thursday, which is the largest Roman Catholic country in Asia. Millions are expected to attend the Pope's events, with estimates surpassing the record set by John Paul II in 1995, when 5 million Filipinos turned out for the last papal visit.

es/rc (AP, KNA, Reuters)