Bishops’ Conference head, Sri Lankan President discuss Catholic religious affairs

On October 2, Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe met with Bishop Harold Anthony Perera of Kurunegala, President of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Sri Lanka (CBCS).
 
Both leaders spoke about the country's Catholic religious affairs. 
 
The meeting took place at the Bishop's House in Kurunegala, the capital of the North Western Province and the Kurunegala District.
 
Bishop Perera briefed Wickremesinghe on some of the concerns and issues that the country's Christian community has been facing. 
 
Father Piyal Janaka Fernando, Father Sagara Prishantha of the Kurunegala diocese, and former Minister Ravi Karunanayake were also present.
 
This is the first meeting between the president of the CBCS and Wickremesinghe, who took office as President of Sri Lanka on July 21 amid a protracted political and economic crisis in the country.
 
The unprecedented anti-government demonstrations and protests by the public in the 22-million island nation have subsided a bit, but economic woes, inflation, and shortages of fuel, medicine, and other basic commodities have skyrocketed as the country grapples with the worst currency crisis, political instability, and social unrest in its history.
 
Sri Lanka is home to 1,552,434 Catholics or about 7% of its 22 million people. Catholics are distributed across one archdiocese and eleven dioceses.