Notes on church-state affairs: Sri Lanka
by  Rosalie  Beck
Journal of Church & State
Vol. 37 No. 2  

Spring.1995
P.456
Copyright by Journal of Church & State

Pope John Paul II visited Sri Lanka on 20-21 January and made an effort to
conciliate Buddhists who are unhappy with comments in his book, Crossing
the Threshold of Faith. Monks in particular were upset by his statement
that Buddhism "is in large measure an atheistic system." During his visit
the pope said that he had high regard for the followers of Buddhism. The
Vatican, however, said that the comments were not an apology and suggested
that the monks were using the issue in their conflict with the Sri Lankan
government over making Buddhism a state religion again. The Socialist
administration is opposed to the idea. Security was high during the pope's
visit. There are about 1 million Catholics in Sri Lanka but the majority of
the country is Buddhist.