{"id":37367,"date":"2015-01-16T01:59:44","date_gmt":"2015-01-16T06:59:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=37367"},"modified":"2015-01-16T05:42:35","modified_gmt":"2015-01-16T10:42:35","slug":"pope-francis-concludes-inspiring-three-day-visit-by-tweeting-may-god-bless-and-protect-sri-lanka-in-sinhalatamil-and-english","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=37367","title":{"rendered":"Pope Francis Concludes Inspiring Three -day Visit by Tweeting “May God Bless and Protect Sri Lanka”in Sinhala,Tamil and English."},"content":{"rendered":"

by Norman Palihawadane and Rex Clementine<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"IMG_9094-0.PNG\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Sri Lankans bade farewell to the Holy Father yesterday as he ended a three day visit here and headed off to the Philippines on a five-day visit. On board a SriLankan Airlines flight to Manila a smiling Pope tweeted in Sinhala, Tamil and English \u2018May God bless and protect Sri Lanka!.<\/p>\n

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Yesterday morning, prior to his departure, Pope Francis visited Benedict XVI Cultural Institute at Bolawalana. The Pope arrived there at 8:15 am and prayed silently in the chapel before imparting his blessings.<\/p>\n

The Pope then headed to the Katunayake International Airport, where he was welcomed by President Maithripala Sirisena and after a brief stay at the VIP Lounge the President and His Holiness proceeded to the tarmac on foot. The Pope then bade farewell to Sri Lankan bishops and proceeded along the red carpet towards the aircraft.<\/p>\n

The SriLankan Airlines flight carrying the Pope and the Papal delegation took off from Katunayake at 9:00am.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, while returning from Madhu, the Pope made an unscheduled visit to the Maligakanda Buddhist Temple becoming only the second Pope after Saint John Paul II to visit a Buddhist Temple. Saint John Paul II visited a temple in Thailand in 1984.<\/p>\n

The visit to Agrashravaka temple at Maligawatta was not in the Pope\u2019s original schedule. The Chief Monk of the temple Banagala Upatissa Thera had invited the Pope to visit the temple when the former greeted the latter on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

The Pope entered the temple after removing his shoes and the temple opened the casket containing relics of Arahant Sariyuth and Mugalan, two disciples of the Buddha.<\/p>\n

After the visit to the temple, Pope Francis also met former President Mahinda Rajapaksa and his wife Shiranthi Rajapaksa. Former Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa was also present on the occasion.<\/p>\n

Later that day the Pope met the Sri Lankan Bishops after a scheduled meeting on Tuesday was cancelled.<\/p>\n

The main event during the Papal visit, the Canonization of Sri Lanka\u2019s first ever Saint \u2013 Joseph Vaz on the Galle Face Green attracted more than one million devotees. Later that day the Pope made a visit to Madhu, the holiest Shrine of Sri Lankan Catholics, where he participated in a prayer service.<\/p>\n

Rev. Fr. Federico Lombardi (SJ), the spokesman to the Pope was highly impressed with the welcome the Pope received in Sri Lanka. “”There were so many people on the way from the airport; it was very impressive. We didn\u2019t expect this warm of a welcome in a country in which Catholics are not the majority,” Fr. Lombardi told journalists.<\/p>\n

Pope Francis has impressed many with his simple way of life and his concern for the poor and marginalized. Since becoming the first Jesuit as the Head of Catholic Church, Pope Francis has done many impressive things and encouraged Church leaders to live a simple way of life.<\/p>\n

The Pope has spoken against the lavish spending of the Church and has urged Cardinals and Bishops to dress modestly and refrain from wasteful expenditure.<\/p>\n

The Pope has also shown a special affection for the sick and the marginalised and during the Holy Week service last year washed and kissed the feet of prison inmates.<\/p>\n

Pope Francis was the third Pope to visit Sri Lanka after Pope Paul VI in 1970 and Saint Pope John Paul II in 1995.<\/p>\n

Courtesy:The Island<\/em><\/p>\n

Tweet<\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Norman Palihawadane and Rex Clementine Sri Lankans bade farewell to the Holy Father yesterday as he ended a three day visit here and headed off to the Philippines on a five-day visit. On board a SriLankan Airlines flight to Manila a smiling Pope tweeted in Sinhala, Tamil and English \u2018May God bless and protect …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘Pope Francis Concludes Inspiring Three -day Visit by Tweeting “May God Bless and Protect Sri Lanka”in Sinhala,Tamil and English.’ »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[12],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37367"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=37367"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37367\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37378,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37367\/revisions\/37378"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=37367"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=37367"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=37367"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}