CATHOLIC HISTORY IN SRI LANKA

CATHOLIC CHURCH IN SRI LANKA

The Catholic Church in Sri Lanka (Sinhala: Sri Lankavay Katholika Sabhava) is part of The Catholic Church, under the spiritual leadership of the pope in Rome.

Country's main Catholic body Archdiocese of Colombo is made up with another 11 dioceses through the little Island of Sri Lanka.

There are approximately 1.2 million Catholics in Sri Lanka representing around 6.1% of the total population.

In 1995, at a ceremony in Colombo, Pope John Paul II beatified Father Joseph Vaz, an early missionary to the country, who was known as the Apostle of Ceylon. On 17 September 2014, Pope Francis approved the vote to have him declared a saint. ^[2] Pope Francis canonised Father Joseph Vaz on Galle Face Green, in Colombo on 14 January 2015.

Early History

Records of ancient travellers to Sri Lanka reports that a separate area was allocated for Christians in the ancient capital Anuradhapura and there was a Christian chapel used by the Persian merchants who came to Ceylon in around 5th century.^[3] The Persian cross excavated in Anuradhapura belonging to the 5th century and the decorative baptismal pond excavated near Vavuniya proves presence of Christians in Sri Lanka during the early period Anuradhapura Kingdom. Two crosses excavated around Anuradhapura in 1913 said to be identical to the cross at St Thomas Mount near Chennai.^[4]