By Rex Clementine

Participating in an anti-government protest in Negombo on Saturday, the Archbishop of Colombo Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith urged the government to step down and let capable people of integrity take the country forward.

People of other faiths and their religious leaders also took part in the protest. Those who had gathered in Negombo then marched towards St. Anthony’s Shrine, in Kochchikade, one of the Catholic’s holiest shrines, attacked on Easter Sunday in 2019.

“Soon after the Easter bombings, I urged Catholics not to harm any believers of Islam as I felt that it could be a conspiracy. Now, we know who the conspirators are. They can grab power through conspiracies but they can’t hold on to it. God is watching all this,” the Papabile told the gathering.

A total of 269 people died in the Easter Sunday bombings as terrorists targeted Church goers and tourists at five star hotels, in Colombo. “We have been urging the government to implement the recommendations of the Presidential Commission that probed the attacks. But the government has failed to do it. They are happy to pin the blame of these attacks on the Muslim community. There’s been an effort to hide the other forces that were behind these attacks,” Cardinal Malcolm who recently briefed Pope Francis I, in Vatican, on the developments, said.

Cardinal Malcolm is expected to retire in November this year, but during the protest, he didn’t sound like someone who was looking to put his feet up.

“I’m not afraid to tell the Prime Minister and the President that the curse of the people, who shed blood on Easter Sunday, is coming to haunt you.”

One of the leading candidates to succeed Pope Francis I, according to the new book ‘The Next Pope’ written by Vaticanologist Edward Pentin, Cardinal Malcolm also spoke of corruption in the government. “The Attorney General today has no power. He has to only carry out what the government wants. Corruption is rampant under this government. The Pandora Papers have exposed a member of the Rajapaksa family. They have left the country.

“I have recently read in the newspapers that a beggar, in India, has donated money to help those suffering in Sri Lanka. That sums up the story. Our country is begging from even beggars at the moment. This is what politicians, over the last 74 years, have done for this beautiful country. Therefore, I urge the people to ask these rulers to go home. They have destroyed the country,” Cardinal Malcolm concluded.