delivered new houses to the victims of the Easter attacks

Numerous priests participated in the ceremony yesterday. The project was funded by Caritas Antoniana of Padua, Italy. Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith: “We are ready to pardon the culprits if they admit their responsibility for the attacks.”

Colombo () – Yesterday the first houses of the “San Antonio Housing Plan” were delivered to 12 families who were victims of the Easter attacks in 2019.

“If those responsible admit any omissions, we are prepared to forgive them,” Archbishop of Colombo Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith said at the handover ceremony. The houses were built in an area north of the capital and were financed by Caritas Antoniana of Padua, Italy.

The act was also attended by the Auxiliary Bishop of Colombo, Msgr. Anton Ranjith, the father. Lawrence Ramanayake, director of Caritas Colombo, and numerous priests.

“It’s a very happy moment,” said Dharshani Weerapathran, a Tamil Catholic recipient. “We are very grateful to those who donated these houses in a quiet place.” Although “at the same time I am very sad about the death of my mother during the Easter attacks,” added the woman. “That day we were together at mass. I also suffered many injuries. My mother, who was 75 at the time, died of hemorrhage, and I had to have surgery to remove the iron splinters.”

“Former President Maithripala Sirisena promised me that a transparent and independent investigation into the attacks would be carried out,” the archbishop explained. “But after receiving the report from the Commission of Inquiry, he asked me how to implement the recommendations.”

“I replied that the president is not obliged to put these recommendations into practice – the cardinal continued – but that he must entrust the task to the police and justice. But he didn’t answer me. After that the trust I had in him was shattered.”

“We are ready to forgive, but do not hide the guilty under the sand. Accept the truth if you want to escape from Buddhist karma”, Mgr Ranjith stressed.

On April 21, 2019, several churches and three hotels were targeted by suicide bombings, leaving more than 250 dead and 500 injured.