During his trip to Sri Lanka from 12–15 January 2015, Pope Francis paid a surprise visit to a Buddhist temple in Colombo on Wednesday morning, where he witnessed a key ritual.
From AP, The Guardian
The temple’s head monk Banagala Upatissa, who is also chairman of the noted Buddhist organization the Mahabodhi Society in Colombo, had invited Pope Francis to the temple when they met at an inter-religious meeting on Tuesday. The pope’s visit was spontaneously added to his busy schedule early on Wednesday. Speaking to the National Catholic Reporter, Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said the pope’s visit to the temple was decided after a meeting with Sri Lanka’s Catholic bishops in the capital had fallen through, following a delay in their return from the far northern town of Madhu. Lombardi added, “This is the way in which the pope acts. So then we went to a Buddhist temple because the Buddhists are an important authority.”
Pope Francis took off his shoes before entering the temple and, accompanied by the monks, went to view a statue of the Buddha. The pontiff then witnessed the ritual opening of a casket containing the relics of two important disciples of the Buddha. The reliquary is kept in the Agrashravaka Temple, but is normally only unsealed once a year. According to the Huffington Post, Banagala Upatissa told Associated Press that allowing the pope to witness the ritual “is the highest honor and respect we can offer to His Holiness.” Upatissa himself had visited the Vatican during the papacy of Pope Benedict XVI (2005–13).
From L’Osservatore Romano/pool/AP
Lombardi told reporters, “I can only say the pope was listening [to the prayers] with great respect, and listening also to the prayer of the monk showing the relics” (Huffington Post).
The 20-minute visit is only the second time in history that a pope has been to a Buddhist temple. The first was when Pope John Paul II paid a visit to a temple in Thailand in 1984.
Sri Lanka’s population is approximately 70 per cent Buddhist, with the main tradition being Theravada Buddhism. Buddhism was introduced to Sri Lanka from India in 246 BCE as part of the Ashokan missions.
Born Jorge Mario Bergoglio in Argentina in 1936, Pope Francis was elected 266th pope of the Catholic Church on 13 March 2013. He is the first Jesuit pope and the first from Latin America to become pontiff (The Economist). Pope Francis has been a firm advocate of inter-religious dialogue throughout his papacy. During his visit to Sri Lanka, he “told huge crowds that religions must unite to heal the country’s war wounds” (Yahoo News). His trip included canonizing Sri Lanka’s first saint, visiting a Christian shrine, and holding a private audience with former Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa. His apostolic travels continued with a visit to the Philippines, arriving in Manila on Thursday in the late afternoon and leaving on Monday morning, 19 January.