They have rolled out the red carpet for Pope Francis in Sri Lanka!

Colombo, Sri
Lanka, (CNA/EWTN News) - Pope Francis has begun his
visit to Sri Lanka, voicing hopes for days of friendship, dialogue and
solidarity.”

It is my hope
that Sri Lanka’s political, religious and cultural leaders, by measuring their
every word and action by the good and the healing it will bring, will make a
lasting contribution to the material and spiritual progress of the Sri Lankan
people,” the Pope said during a welcoming ceremony at the Bandaranaike
International Airport on the morning of Jan. 13.

The Holy
Father was greeted by the newly-elected Sri Lankan President Maithripala
Sirisena, Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith of Columbo, and other officials. The
ceremony included traditional Sri Lankan songs and dances.

In his opening
remarks at the ceremony, Pope Francis said that Sri Lanka’s natural beauty”
has made it known as the Pearl of the Indian Ocean.”

Even more
importantly, this island is known for the warmth of its people and the rich
diversity of their cultural and religious traditions,” he continued.

He said he was
visiting for pastoral reasonsand to help a country ravaged by civil war for a
quarter century rebuild and regain peace.

It is no easy
task to overcome the bitter legacy of injustices, hostility and mistrust left
by the conflict. It can only be done by overcoming evil with good and by
cultivating those virtues which foster reconciliation, solidarity and peace,”
the Pope said.

Although Sri
Lanka is a mostly Buddhist country, with Christians accounting for just eight
percent of its 20.4 million people, Pope Francis is the third Pope to visit the
country. Pope Paul VI made a visit in 1970, and Pope St. John Paul II visited
exactly 20 years ago in 1995.

Pope John Paul
II tried to establish interfaith connections in the country during his visit,
but was boycotted by the nation’s Buddhist leaders.

In his remarks
at the welcoming ceremony, Pope Francis said the process of healing and
rebuilding is the duty of everyone, with an essential role” for the followers
of all religious traditions.

Most
importantly, they must be prepared to accept one another, to respect legitimate
diversities, and learn to live as one family,” he said. Whenever people listen
to one another humbly and openly, their shared values and aspirations become
all the more apparent. Diversity is no longer seen as a threat, but as a source
of enrichment.”

Pope Francis’
visit is expected to bridge divides between the Tamil minority and Sinhalese
majority populations, who had been at war for a quarter of a century before the
fighting ended in 2009.

Rebuilding
efforts should not only focus on infrastructure and material needs, Pope
Francis said, but also on the dignity of each person in the country.

In this
sense, the great work of rebuilding must embrace improving infrastructures and
meeting material needs, but also, and even more importantly, promoting human
dignity, respect for human rights, and the full inclusion of each member of
society,” he said.

On the Pope’s
schedule is a visit to the shrine of Our Lady of the Rosary in the Tamil region
of the country, where he will greet the faithful and pray. The visit could send
a strong message of peace and solidarity for the country, the Associated Press
reports.

After the
ceremony, the Pope’s schedule for the day included an interreligious encounter
in the Bandaranaike Memorial International Conference Hall, which is expected
to include two moderate Buddhist leaders.

Pope Francis
is also expected to canonize Blessed Joseph Vaz on the morning of Jan. 14th in
Colombo. Blessed Joseph, who was a priest in Sri Lanka during the mid-1600s,
often had to disguise himself as a priest in order to carry out his ministry
due to the strong Calvinist presence in the country at the time.

After his Sri
Lankan visit, the Pope will fly to the Philippines, where he will visit through
Jan. 19.In stark contrast to Sri Lanka, 86 percent of the Philippines’ 93.4
million people identify as Catholic. While the country has not known as much
political unrest as Sri Lanka recently, the Philippines has been ravaged by
several typhoons, earthquakes and other natural disasters in recent years.