Don’t use Pope in election campaign

Cardinal Malcolm Cooray has requested related parties not to use Pope Francis’ visit for election campaigns say reports.

It had been planned to use Pope Francis’ visit in Mr. Mahinda Rajapaksa’s election campaign. Even certain ministers of Rajapaksa government had planned to use Pope’s visit to boost their images. This could be seen from giant cutouts displayed in areas where majority of Catholics live.

Mr. Mahinda Rajapaksa has been forced to use various gimmicks at the decisive election to get votes of devotees of other religions due to the anti-religious moves carried out by ‘Bodhu Bala Sena’, directly manipulated by Mr. Gotabhaya Rajapaksa.

Meanwhile, Father Cyril Gamini, the spokesman for the Catholic Church, has issued a press release asking political parties to refrain from using the image of Pope Francis in the election posters. He states political posters and cut outs with the picture of the Holy Father have come up in some places in the country and has asked that political posters and cut outs to be removed immediately and urged all the political groups to refrain from using either the Holy Father or his visit to Sri Lanka for the political campaign of the presidential election.

Catholic devotees have condemned the use of Holy Father’s visit in the election campaign by President Mahinda Rajapaksa and certain ministers.