Tens of thousands were killed, and hundreds of thousands displaced, in a three-decade conflict between the state and separatist insurgents in the north, known as the Tamil Tigers.
Peace is therefore a relatively new concept here, and something Sri Lankans don’t take for granted.
‘Truth and reconciliation’
It’s also the primary message from Pope Francis as he arrived in the island nation. On Tuesday, his first day of a three-day tour of the country, he told an audience that Sri Lanka cannot fully heal without “fostering reconciliation.”
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“There are extremists, they are not the majority,” Cardinal Ranjith says. “So we cannot say there are religious persecutions in an organized fashion.”
Sri Lanka has a porous culture where people from various faiths have intermingled and taken aspects from other religions.
“I am a Catholic, but I am very sure Buddhism, which is followed by the majority in the country, has influenced my thinking,” he said.
It is this co-existence of faiths Cardinal Ranjith wants Pope Francis to witness for himself in Sri Lanka, and thinks it’s the best way forward for Christianity in Asia.
