Pope Francis, a challenge for Sri Lankan Catholics
March 26, 2013: For some lay and religious Catholics involved in Sri Lankan society,
Pope Francis represents a challenge for both lay people as well as the consecrated.
They said that he is bound to open people's eyes and be an active tool for the redemption
of the oppressed. According to AsiaNews, every day, they address their prayers
to him. Basil Fonseka, a Catholic journalist and writer, said that the pope's every
word "flows from the life he lived, in brotherhood with the poor."
Thinking
about the pope's homily on Palm Sunday, when he said that "Jesus entered Jerusalem
to die on the Cross", or about his continual references to the need for "a poor Church
for the poor," Pope Francis shows that he is an "active tool to redeem the oppressed,
the blind, the imprisoned, and the enslaved to social and economic constraints."
What
is more, "This pope," Fonseka said, "will be an ongoing challenge for both the clergy
and the laity, to bring Christ into the lives of the needy through deeds."
Some
female Tamil students at St Mary School in Colombo were affected "by the lifestyle
shown by the Holy Father. He is a very simple person, full of love for everyone, without
discrimination. We hope he might soon visit Sri Lanka, and bless us in person. "
Fr
Mary Anthony, SJ, a former Jesuit provincial in Sri Lanka, is happy because of the
election of Pope Francis. According to him, the Holy Father "will open the doors of
the Church to the poor and marginalised. He will work for all the victims of an unjust
system." Source: AsiaNews.it