Pope won’t visit SL this year : Vatican

23 January 2014 06:03 am - 13 - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

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The Vatican on Wednesday announced that Pope Francis would not be visiting Sri Lanka this year, foreign media reported today.

It said the Pope might go to South Korea on August 20, several years after Pope John Paul II visited the Korean peninsula.

Vatican spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi said Pope Francis was invited to attend a meeting of young Asian Catholics in August and that trip is "under study."
Lombardi said the Vatican was also considering another papal trip to Asia, but not this year, to the Philippines and Sri Lanka.

Francis told reporters last summer en route home from World Youth Day in Brazil that he wanted to go to Asia precisely because Pope Benedict XVI never managed to get to the continent during his eight years as pope, aside from a quick trip to Turkey in 2006. Francis specifically mentioned the invitations he had received from the Philippines and Sri Lanka.

The globe-trotting John Paul made several trips to Asia during his quarter-century papacy. He canonized 103 Korean martyrs during a May 1994 trip to South Korea that kicked off a 10-day odyssey, which included stops in Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and Thailand.

Francis so far has one foreign trip confirmed for 2014: a May 24-26 trip to Jordan, Israel and the West Bank.

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Comments - 13

ram Thursday, 23 January 2014 06:52 AM

yes good move not an holy place but a bad country

UN-Predict Thursday, 23 January 2014 06:54 AM

Whats the reason? was it due to Sri Lanka or Vatican?

Concerned citizen Thursday, 23 January 2014 07:49 AM

San Marino and Vatican are two entities in Italy and they both have two different purposes.

Vaticano Thursday, 23 January 2014 07:52 AM

Pope's decision of not visiting SL was known long ago....It is an "old news"

lankakolla Thursday, 23 January 2014 08:41 AM

Better, otherwise these politikkos getting score...

Suq Madique Thursday, 23 January 2014 08:45 AM

Don't blame the country, blame the govt.

Suq Madique Thursday, 23 January 2014 08:58 AM

The Pope is also not going to the Philippines...is that also a bad country?

uhe Thursday, 23 January 2014 09:28 AM

good save us some public money which would be wasted re taring the roads!

Yuri Thursday, 23 January 2014 11:53 AM

is it anything to do with diaspora

MagodisThuma Thursday, 23 January 2014 01:00 PM

Thank God !

Cobra Thursday, 23 January 2014 01:36 PM

The govt.probably wanted the Pope to reconsider and make his visit in the Presidential election year so that it can score mega points off the Catholic community!!!

Jagath Leanage Thursday, 23 January 2014 05:13 PM

A lady tried her best to bring down Pope, but in vein.

of course Thursday, 23 January 2014 05:35 PM

of course Philippines is den for drugs and prostitution !!!

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Pope won’t visit SL this year : Vatican

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