President to meet Pope

COLOMBO: President Mahinda Rajapaksa will leave for Vatican this week to have an audience with Pope Benedict XVI on the invitation extended by the Papal Nuncio in Sri Lanka, Archbishop Mario Zenari.

President Rajapaksa who went to Vatican as Prime Minister to attend the funeral of Pope John Paul II in 2004 will be the first President of Sri Lanka to meet with the present Pope, who celebrates his 80th birthday today and who will mark the second year of His Papacy on April 19.

A number of Catholic Ministers will join the President in his visit to Rome along with Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama.

The Sri Lankan delegation is due to attend the ceremonies connected with the second anniversary of the papacy of the Pope on April 19.