April 21st is a date that the Catholic Church in Sri Lanka cannot forget, 272 people tragically lost their lives during the Easter Sunday attacks in 2019.

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5 years later, the Sri Lankan community in Rome gathers at the Basilica of the XII Apostles to commemorate the victims, pray for their souls and to renew the appeal for justice to be done.

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Over a thousand Sri Lankans participated in this event from the neighboring communities of Infernetto, Laurentina, Prima Porta and La Storta in Rome.

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The Eucharistic celebration was presided over by Monsignor Neville Joe Perera, National Coordinator for Sri Lankan immigrants in Italy and concelebrated by Monsignor Indunil Janakaratne, secretary of the Vatican Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue and numerous priests.

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“Nowadays we see a great disparity between human and divine justice, unlike human justice, divine justice reflects the glory of God” said Mgr. Perera during the homily.

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“As our dear Archbishop Cardinal Ranjith also said, these cowardly attacks have revived two long forgotten terms in Sri Lanka: Justice and respect for the Law. Let's ask ourselves, do we really want an unjust and immoral society for our children?” added the prelate.

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Mgr. Perera concluded by inviting participants to pray that next year there will be the first commemoration of the "martyrs of the Easter Sunday attacks" and no longer the commemoration for the victims.

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