The Archbishop of Wales has condemned as ‘barbaric’ the terrorist attacks on churches and hotels in Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday.
The Archbishop, John Davies, who also had a word for the journalist Lyra McKee who was killed during a riot in Londonderry before the weekend, spoke out after he had given his Easter Sunday message at Brecon Cathedral.
In his speech he urged people to turn their backs on civil disobedience and to find ways of helping those in need.
Eight exposions were reported in Sri Lanka yesterday (Sunday, April 21), including at three churches in Negombo, Batticaloa and Colombo's Kochchikade district during Easter services.
The first attack was reported at 8.45am local time (3.15 GMT).
The latest figure for the number of dead is reported to be 290, with more than 500 people injured. Among the dead are believed to be 35 foreigners, including five Britons.
After learning of the attacks, the Archbishop said: “On the very day when Christians throughout the world were celebrating the truth that the barbarism and cruelty of Good Friday had not overcome love and justice, we were greeted by news of the atrocities in Sri Lanka, a country well used to terror but which, for the past ten years has benen relatively peaceful.
"Cold, calculating and carefully planned barbaric acts of terror were launched against people exercising their freedom to worship, relax or go about their daily business. I condemn, in the strongest possible terms, those possessed of perverse and sick minds and who both planned and executed these dreadful attacks. We remember in our prayers the dead, the injured and those who grieve, together with all those who continue to work for social cohesion, tolerance peace and justice.
“Following on from the murder, in Londonderry, of Lyra McKee, a promising young journalist and activist for human rights and who was simply doing her job, these events are an ongoing reminder of the human capacity to wound the innocent and mar the world for which, in Christ, God showed his love.
“People of a good heart and loving mind must not let such events dim their desire to continue to work for a world and for communities where these things will no longer be tolerated.”