Multi-ethnic choir in Colombo prepares to sing for Pope

(Vatican Radio)  Hours before Pope Francis is due to celebrate the Canonization Mass for the Blessed Vaz Jan on Wednesday, organisers and the faithful are busy with final preparations for the event.

Amongst them Father Jude Nicholas and his multi-ethnic, multi-language youth choir that will sing during Mass at Galle Face Green Jan in the business district of Colombo.

An Oratorian priest who moved to Sri Lanka in 1687, the Blessed Vaz Jan is credited with having founded the Catholic Church in Sri Lanka once again when it was dying. He is known as the Apostle of Sri Lanka.

Galle Face Green is the same place where St. John Paul II beatified him in 1995. A half a million people are expected to attend.

The Pope’s visit comes after the nation has come out of a 30-year-old war and is in the process of seeking reconciliation.

After the canonization, Pope Francis will fly to the Marian shrine of Madhu, about 170 miles north of Colombo, where he will meet victims of the ethnic war after praying the rosary at the shrine.

Catholics fled following persecution of Catholics and Dutch Calvinists in the 1600s. Carrying the statue of Mary with them, some Catholics built the Madhu Church that has become the biggest pilgrim center in Sri Lanka.

Reinforcing the theme of reconciliation, the vestments for the canonization Mass have been stitched and woven by war widows of Sri Lankan soldiers and Tamil rebels.

Speaking to Vatican Radio’s Father Louis Xystus Jerome, the choir assistant Father Susai Nathan said the choir will sing in Sinhalese and Tamil languages as a sign of the county’s ethnic diversity and unity.

Listen to the interview: