Pope Francis in Sri Lanka and the ‘widow's mite’

Amidst the very colourful and extraordinary scenes witnessed during Pope Francis’ Apostolic visit to Sri Lanka, not much has been made of the symbolic exchange of gifts at the end of the Canonisation Mass –and rightly so. It was a small ceremony within a larger celebration. Yet it was a very touching moment. Only a few words spoken as would when two friends or family members express their love with gifts.

Pope Francis gave as a gift to the Church in Sri Lanka, a beautiful reproduction of a Copper engraved plaque. The original plaque, five centuries old, is in the Vatican archives.

It all began in 1694, when the King of Kandy, King Keerthi Sri Rajasinghe, issued a copper engraved plaque with a decree. A loose translation of the decree reads like, “The Buddhist brethren of the Kingdom can now accept the noble religion of Christianity.” Yes, he called it a noble religion. Secondly, the King decreed, “We also hereby grant permission to Christian missionaries to establish Churches in the territory of the Kingdom.”

The plaque was given to Fr. Juan Sylveira of the Order of St. Philip Neri and his companions. It allowed missionaries to preach the Gospel and build churches in his kingdom. Effectively, the decree also allowed those who wanted, to convert to Christianity. Eventually, the Archbishop of Colombo, Christopher Bonjero O.M.I would give the original copper plaque to Pope Leo XIII. This week, Pope Francis gave back a copy of this plaque to the people of Sri Lanka.

The gift exchange beautifully sums-up all speeches on religious tolerance, freedom and unity in the face of diversity. Here was a King, five centuries ago, who embraced freedom of religion. To think the world is still struggling with this very issue many centuries later!

In return, the Catholics of Sri Lanka, through Cardinal Ranjith, gave Pope Francis seventy thousand dollars ($70,000), collected from the people, as a gift for his charitable works. Cardinal Ranjith told Pope Francis that though Sri Lanka is a poor country, the people wished to share their contribution with the Holy Father for his charitable works.

After nearly 30 years of a bloody conflict, a devastating tsunami of 2004 and economic turbulence, Sri Lanka is still a developing nation. It is for this reason why their “widow’s mite” was a very moving gift. The gift of Sri Lanka to Pope Francis is coming from the heart. It is not from excess. It is a gift of one who knows that when we are generous with God and our neighbor, God is generous with us too.

Pope Francis and what he represents is not lost on the people of Sri Lanka. The Oblate Bishop of Anuradhapura, Norbert Marshall Andradi perhaps spoke for everyone when he said that Sri Lanka is thankful to the Holy Father for having chosen to visit Sri Lanka, a tiny island in Asia, when he had not even visited his own native land, Argentina.

(Fr. Paul Samasumo; e-mail: [e-mail])