Prime minister Mahinda Rajapaksha was in  Italy to participate in an annual religious meeting organised by a non-governmental organisation, which was not diplomatic.

However, informed sources said that PM’s primary purpose in attending this meeting was to expect the pope to participate in this event.

The Vatican was not in a good mood with the government as the GR regime failed to justice the victims of ester Sunday bombings.

The government was in the hot wanted in diplomatic circles due to this event. PM tried to use this non-diplomatic event to meet the pope and iron out the pressure in this backdrop. However, the pope refrained from attending the event, only send a felicitation message.