Saturday, 4 October 2014 01:35
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President Mahinda Rajapaksa, beginning a three-day visit to Italy and the Vatican, arrived in Fiumicino Airport in Rome on October 2 evening.
He was accompanied by First Lady Shiranthi Wickremasinghe Rajapaksa. The Head of the Vatican Protocol Office, Msgr. Jose Avelino Bettencourt, Sri Lankan Ambassador in Italy, Nawalage Bennet Cooray and Sri Lankan Ambassador in The Holy See and Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the UN in Geneva, Ravinatha Aryasinha warmly received the President at the airport.
President Rajapaksa will have an audience with His Holiness Pope Francis at the Holy See. The Pope is scheduled to visit Sri Lanka in January next year. Pope Paul VI and Pope John Paul II visited Sri Lanka in 1970 and 1995 respectively.
Chief Justice Mohan Peiris, Minister of External Affairs Prof. G. L. Peiris, Minister of State Resources and Enterprise Development, Dayasritha Tissera, Minister of Social Services, Felix Perera, Deputy Minister of External Affairs, Neomal Perera, Minister of Coconut Development and Janatha Estate Development, Anthony Victor Perera, Monitoring MP of the Ministry of External Affairs Sajin de Vass Gunawardena, Chief Opposition Whip John Amaratunga, and Secretary to the Ministry of External Affairs, Kshenuka Senewiratne are also accompanying the President on this tour.
