A delegation from the Vatican was briefed in detail last Monday on arrangements currently under way for Pope Francis’ scheduled visit. External Affairs Minister G.L. Peiris who chaired the meeting spelt out the different measures that were being taken. Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa, armed forces commanders and several officials were present at the meeting.

The three-member delegation from the Vatican arrived in Colombo last Saturday to take part in this conference. Two of them who were in the front rows of the discussion were Alberto Gasbarri, Chief Organiser of Pope’s International Travel, Secretariat of State of the Vatican, and Paolo Corvini, Senior Protocol Officer, Secretariat for Relations with States, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Vatican.

The Archbishop of Colombo His Eminence Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith, several Bishops, Papal Nuncio Monsignor Pierre Nguyen Van Tot, were among those who took part. The delegation from the Vatican also visited the Madhu Church which the Holy Father will travel to on January 14. They will report on their findings to the Vatican where the final decision would be made. The Catholic Church in Colombo is confident that there will not be any change.

Plans to conduct the presidential poll on January 8 next year caused some concerns over the Pope’s visit. This was due to apprehensions that after the results are known, with unlikely prospects of a delay due to any re-count, the time left would not be sufficient for arrangements including security precautions. A Government source said yesterday, “Advancing the date to January 2 for the presidential poll, and repeated assurances that there would be sufficient time, we hope will help convince the Vatican and the Catholic clergy here.” The source said in the light of this “we are quite confident that the visit will not be cancelled.”

Polls originally set for January 8 next year, were considered astrologically auspicious to Rajapaksa. As reported earlier, his astrologers had said that in January all dates were auspicious until the 23rd of the month. Hence, the new date is not an issue astrologically and is being considered very much a lucky one like January 8 — even though in the past, Rajapaksa relied on the number’8′ in numerology as his lucky number.

Courtesy:Sunday Times