ASIA/SRI LANKA - Mass funeral "with tears and sorrow" of those who lost their lives in the Easter attacks

Wednesday, 24 April 2019 terrorism bishops violence

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Colombo (Agenzia Fides) - Church leaders, Catholic families and people of various religions mourned their loved ones killed in the April 21 bombings, who were buried yesterday, April 23rd.
The Archbishop of Colombo, Cardinal Albert Malcolm Ranjith, presided over a memorial mass funeral held at the St Sebastian's church in Negombo, north of Colombo, which was one of the places targeted in the deadly suicide blasts.
"With tears and sorrow, we bury our brothers and sisters who lost their lives in the tragic attack" said Cardinal Ranjith during the funeral, and urged everyone not to lose hope in God and to pray for peace and security in the Country. Thousands of people, not just Catholics, expressed their solidarity with the families of the victims and survivors.
Jude Fernando, who lost his mother and an eight-year-old nephew in the tragedy, told Fides: "We are angry that this tragedy happened to all of us. We do not deserve it. Our pain is indescribable". "We have no choice but to accept this tragedy with pain and great sorrow", Danthika Ramari De Silva, 67, a helper and cleaner in St Sebastian's church told Fides. "We are doing everything to console and support families in mourning".
Meanwhile, President Maithripala Sirisena announced that he intends to reorganize the security forces and the police under his control as soon as possible. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesing admitted that the police had information on suicide attacks against churches and luxury hotels before Sunday. The death toll from the attacks on churches and hotels has risen to 321 with about 500 wounded.
The Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the series of bomb attacks on three Catholic churches and three luxury hotels. Sri Lanka is a nation with about 23 million inhabitants, mostly Buddhists (70%), and includes Hindu (12.6%), Muslim (9.7%) and Christian (7.6%) minorities. (SD) (Agenzia Fides, 24/4/2019)