By Yohan Perera  

The Catholic Church would have forgiven former President Maithripala Sirisena if he had accepted his shortcoming and resigned the day after the Easter Sunday bomb attacks, a spokesman for the church said yesterday.  

“ We would have forgiven the former President if he had resigned from the post the very next day after the bomb attacks after accepting the shortcomings on his part,” Archdiocese of Colombo social communications unit Member Fr. Cyril Gamini Fernando said yesterday.  

“What Mr. Sirisena should have done is to accept the shortcomings which he is responsible for. This has been proved by the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court’s verdict clearly states that the former president’s failure has caused a great destruction to the nation. This has caused the loss of lives and property,” Fr,Gamini said quoting the verdict.  

“Mr. Sirisena should have admitted his faults before apologizing,” he added.  

“We are willing to forgive all who are responsible but we need to know the truth behind the failure to prevent the attacks after receiving prior information on the impending attack,” he also said.