Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith of Colombo has once again expressed dismay over the delay in serving justice to families and victims of the 2019 Easter Sunday bombings in the Sri Lankan capital.
Speaking at the opening ceremony of the renovated Holy Spirit Church on Tuesday, November 23, the cardinal said the government has not even attempted to implement recommendations of its own investigative body.
“The recommendations of the Presidential Commission should be implemented and if they cannot do that, this task must be handed over to someone who can do it,” said the prelate.
“We have no politics, in this case, we only want justice to be done and the truth behind the attacks,” he said, as he appealed to authorities not to attempt to hide the truth.
Cardinal Ranjith noted that those in power are living as if nothing has happened, adding that it is not acceptable.
“I urge all Catholics to stand together until the issue is resolved,” the cardinal said on Tuesday. “Who did the evil deed? Why did they do it? Our struggle will not stop until we find the truth,” he said.
“We are increasingly realizing that there was a bigger program beneath what appeared on the surface of the attack. There are a lot of reasons for that,” added the Church leader.
“We do not want to take revenge on anyone but the Church needs to know the truth,” he added.
Sri Lanka’s High Court began the trial this week of 25 men accused of plotting the Easter Sunday bombings that killed more than 260 people and injured over 500 others.
Police have filed over 23,000 charges against the suspects, including conspiring to murder, aiding and abetting the attacks, and collecting arms and ammunition.
The coordinated suicide bombings on three churches, four hotels, and one housing complex on Easter Sunday in April 2019 took place amid Masses and religious services.
In various pronouncements, Cardinal Ranjith said he was not satisfied with the legal action currently being taken by the authorities against those suspected to be responsible for the bombings.
