The Catholic Church has clarified that Colombo Archbishop, Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith did not request the appointment of the Public Security Ministry Secretary Ravi Seneviratne or the Criminal Investigation Department Director Shani Abeysekara to their current positions. The statement was made by the media spokesperson for the Colombo Archdiocese, Cyril Gamini Fernando during a press briefing held yesterday (17), in response to questions raised regarding remarks made in Parliament by Minister Bimal Rathnayake. He stated that neither Cardinal Ranjith nor the Catholic Church had ever made any such request for the appointments of the two officials.

Further, the Church has denied social media claims suggesting that Cardinal Ranjith had prior knowledge of the 2019 Easter Sunday terror attacks, calling the allegations completely false and baseless. In a statement issued to the media, Fernando said that the claims currently circulating online originated from remarks made by former Minister Harin Fernando before the Presidential Commission of Inquiry into the Easter attacks in 2020. The statement noted that those allegations were previously refuted in a media release issued on 19 September 2020, by three Auxiliary Bishops of the Archdiocese. It further emphasised that recent social media posts repeating the claim that the Cardinal had prior knowledge of the attacks have no factual basis and are entirely misleading. The Church also dismissed related assertions that the security agencies had prior information about the attacks which was communicated to the Cardinal, describing such suggestions as false. According to the statement, the circulation of such claims appears aimed at undermining ongoing efforts to uncover the truth behind the Easter Sunday attacks and obstruct investigations.

The Church has urged the general public to refrain from sharing or believing unverified information circulating on social media. Gamini Fernando also alleged that false information and defamatory claims are being circulated with the intention of obstructing ongoing investigations into the Easter Sunday attacks, urging the public not to be misled by unverified social media content.