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ACN
World News

Sri Lankan priest says the country is 'far away from peace'

by Eno Adeogun

Fr Malaka Leonard told Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN): "We Sri Lankans suffered enough from 30 years of war against terrorists.

"We thought that Sri Lanka was becoming a peaceful environment. But with these blasts, all our hope has gone.

 

"We are far away from peace."

Fr Leonard's friends were killed in the bombing of St Sebastian's Catholic Church, Katuwapitiya.

More than 250 people, including 47 children, were killed when seven Islamist suicide bombers blew themselves up, targeting worshippers in three churches and in three luxury hotels.

Lamenting on the deaths of children, Fr Leonard said: "Children are innocent.

"They are unable to understand what is happening. Most of the children are in fear.

"Schools are closed for a few days."

AP Photo/Gemunu Amarasinghe

He added that peace must be restored in the country.

"There is no road to peace, peace is the road," he said.

"The way of peace is the path of love. Let us take every possible step to avoid violence and live peacefully."

Highlighting the growing persecution Christians face around the world, Dr Thomas Heine-Geldern, executive president of ACN (International), said: "The atrocities in Sri Lanka mark the bloody climax of a trend that has endured for some years now - the persecution of Christians knows no bounds.

"It knows no let-up, especially on the holiest days of the Christian calendar. It knows no mercy on innocent people, who are often made scapegoats for global developments.

"2019 is already one of the bloodiest years for Christians."

AP Photo

ACN's 2018 Religious Freedom in the World report showed evidence of the targeted persecution of Christians by extremist groups.

Dr Heine-Geldern said that it was the "duty of governments and the UN to bring about peace, to guarantee freedom of religion and to repel anti-religious attacks".

He added that the Church's role should be to "stand by persecuted Christians, to give them a voice and a face".

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