Church in Sri Lanka to begin canonization process for hundreds killed in 2019 Easter attack
The Archdiocese of Colombo, Sri Lanka, is set to begin the canonization process for the hundreds of faithful killed in the 2019 Easter Sunday terrorist attack in the country, an archdiocesan official confirmed with CNA.
Father Joy Indika Perera, a representative for Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith of Colombo, told CNA in an email last week that the archdiocese plans to submit a petition to the Vatican to declare those killed in the Easter Sunday attacks “martyrs of faith.”
Perera said the archdiocese will be submitting the petition on April 21, exactly five years after the attacks took place. That is the minimum amount of time required by the Church to open a person’s canonization cause.
The petition will be submitted to the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Causes of Saints.
Eight suicide bombers targeted two Catholic churches, one evangelical church, three luxury hotels, and other locations on April 19, 2019, killing an estimated 269 people and injuring more than 500.
Perera said that 216 Catholics from two different churches, St. Sebastian and St. Anthony, “were massacred in cold blood” in the attack.
Shortly after the attacks, the Islamic State claimed responsibility for the bombings. The Sri Lankan government determined the attack to have been carried out by a local radical Islamist group known as National Thowheeth Jama’ath, with the assistance of foreign groups.
Out of fear of additional attacks, in-person Masses were suspended and Catholic schools were closed in the archdiocese for several weeks.
