Catholic Bishops appeal to President for foreign secret service reports on Easter attack

• Says bishops and citizens became aware of these reports only after President Wickremesinghe mentioned them in recent interview
• Notes any reference by President to Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith in a singular manner undermines their collegiality
• Stresses Cardinal is not acting alone but is in fact an integral and vital CBCS member 

The Catholic Bishops’ Conference in Sri Lanka (CBCS) has written to President Ranil Wickremesinghe requesting copies of reports compiled by international law enforcement and secret service agencies including those from the US, UK, India, China, Australia and Pakistan on the Easter Sunday attack. 

In a letter dated 6 October, the CBCS observed that President Wickremesinghe had discussed these reports in a recent interview with the German broadcaster Deutsche Welle.

 This revelation, the CBCS said, marked the first time the existence of such reports was made known to both the general public and the CBCS.

The CBCS thanked the President for granting it access to the complete report of the Presidential Commission of Inquiry (PCoI) into the Easter Sunday attacks and requested that he also provide them with copies of the reports mentioned by him. 

The PMD last week claimed that in a recent telephone conversation between Minister Tiran Alles and Bishop Harold Anthony Perera, the Bishop indicated that he is currently engaged in a personal review of the report.

Meanwhile, the letter also made reference to several other comments made by Wickremesinghe regarding the CBCS and Archbishop Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith during the same interview.

The CBCS noted the President on several occasions during the interview said he was dealing with the CBCS and not the Cardinal in relation to the Easter Sunday probes. The CBCS noted that any reference by the President to the Cardinal in a singular manner undermines the collegiality of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference since the Cardinal is not acting alone but is in fact an integral and most vital member of the Conference.

The comments from the CBCS come after remarks made by President Wickremesinghe during the interview where he implied a division within the Catholic Church leadership regarding an international investigation into the 2019 Easter Sunday bombings.

Wickremesinghe lashed out during the interview telling Deutsche Welle he was “only dealing with the Bishops’ conference” and not with Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith of Colombo, who has been demanding an international probe. He questioned if the interviewer had sought the opinion of the CBCS, implying that he would get a different response if he had. “You take a piece of paper from the cardinal and you are holding it over me. Have you spoken to the Bishop’s Conference? You have no right to ask me this question,” Wickremesinghe said. 

However, the head of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Sri Lanka Bishop Harold Anthony Perera of Kurunegala has maintained that the stand of Cardinal Ranjith and the bishops on the issue is the same.