President to visit Vatican to extend official invitation to Pope Francis
President Mahinda Rajapaksa is scheduled to leave for the Vatican during the first week of October for an audience with His Holiness Pope Francis One, Presidential Spokesman Mohan Samaranayake said.
He said the President will officially extend an invitation to the Pope to visit Sri Lanka during his audience with the Holy Father.
The Catholic Church has already confirmed the visit of Pope Francis I to Sri Lanka in January next year. His Holiness will also preside over the canonisation of Blessed Joseph Vaz, the Apostle of Sri Lanka, as the first Saint of Sri Lanka.
Pope Paul VI and Pope Saint John Paul II visited Sri Lanka in 1970 and 1995.
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