30th September 2014 Colombo, Sri Lanka
A couple of weeks ago, I went on an official trip to the East. Starting in Arugam Bay, we drove North all the way to Trincomalee, through Pottuvil, Oluvil, Kalmunai and Batticaloa. I met with government and political interlocutors, humanitarian workers and civil society organisations, and visited temples, beaches and hospitals. There was nothing controversial […]
13th September 2012
The UN International Day of Democracy falls on 15 September, a day on which Governments are encouraged to strengthen national programmes devoted to the promotion and consolidation of democracy. The theme this year is Democracy Education. As the relevant UN web-page notes: “It is only with educated citizens that a sustainable culture of democracy can […]
11th June 2012
In his 2011 message for World Peace Day, Pope Benedict emphasised the role of the family as “the school of freedom of peace”, the bedrock of our social fabric. His Holiness added that the family founded on marriage was “the expression of the close union and complementarity between a man and a woman”. The practice […]