By Ranga Sirilal
MADHU, Sri Lanka (Reuters) - Pope Francis visited a former war zone in northern Sri Lanka on Wednesday, preaching forgiveness to tens of thousands of followers gathered at a Catholic shrine that was shelled during the country's long ethnic conflict.
It was the first visit by a pope to the predominantly Hindu region that contains a large Catholic minority and was the scene of fierce fighting between Tamil Tiger rebels and the Sri Lankan army for 26 years. Up to 100,000 people died before the war ended in 2009.
Earlier, Francis gave Sri Lanka its first saint at a waterfront Mass for more half a million people in Colombo, calling 17th century missionary Joseph Vaz a model of reconciliation after the war.
In a prayer at the church of Our Lady of Madhu, Francis denounced the "evil" conflict that "tore open the heart" of Sri Lanka, and drove home the central message of his two-day trip - that religions need to work together to heal the wounds of war.
"May all people here find inspiration and strength to build a future of reconciliation, justice and peace for all the children of this beloved land," he said, speaking slowly in English.
The shrine containing a 400-year old statue of Mary is the most venerated Catholic site on the island. It is also visited by followers of other religions, but was kept out of bounds for years by fighting.
In 1999, shells slammed into the church, killing some 40 people who had sought refuge there. Since the end of the war, the north has undergone reconstruction, but divisions still run deep. The region gets few visits from world leaders.
After landing by helicopter, the Pope drove to the shrine in an open jeep, leaning out frequently to touch the heads of the faithful lining the roads, many using umbrellas for shade.
On Monday, Francis called on the Buddhist-majority country to uncover the truth about the civil war that ended with the army's crushing defeat of Tamil rebels and the deaths of tens of thousands of civilians, according to a U.N. estimate.[ID:nL3N0UR4JC]
Francis's visit, the first by a pontiff in 20 years, has added to the sense that a new chapter is opening on the island, which voted the wartime leadership out of power last week.
"The Pope's visit will shower the blessing upon the country. The people and the new leaders will be able to govern the country peacefully," said Dhammika Priyadharshani, 35, a mother of two who follows Buddhism.
The Pope is due to fly the Philippines on Thursday as part of a week-long tour, his second trip to Asia, to shore up the Church's presence in developing nations.
ST JOSEPH VAZ
Earlier, looking relaxed against an azure backdrop of rolling waves, he told a hushed crowd of half a million people that Vaz was an example of religious tolerance relevant to Sri Lanka today as it recovers from the war between mainly Buddhist Sinhalese and Hindu Tamils.
Vaz was born in 1651 in India's Goa, then a Portuguese colony. He travelled south at the age of 36, dressed as a beggar after hearing about the persecution of Catholics by the Dutch. He worked for years under the protection of a Buddhist king.
By the time of his death, the Church says he had almost single-handedly re-established Catholicism in Sri Lanka.
Catholics make up about 7 percent of Sri Lanka's 20 million population, while 10 times as many people follow Buddhism.
About 10 percent of the population follow Islam. They faced rising attacks from Buddhist extremists under the government of former President Mahinda Rajapaka, who lost office on Thursday.
The canonisation is an example of Francis's no-nonsense approach to creating saints to meet the demands of the flock for new holy figures, particular in parts of the world where the Church is still growing.
Some nationalists highlight the violence of the Church's early years and say it led to the destruction of many Buddhist temples.
(Writing by Frank Jack Daniel; additional reporting by Philip Pullella and Shihar Azeez; Editing by Paul Tait, Robert Birsel and Jeremy Laurence)
