On Sunday, Pope Francis made a call for calm in Sri Lanka, which has been shaken by unrest due to an escalating economic crisis for months.
“I join in the pain of the people of Sri Lanka who continue to suffer the effects of political and economic instability,” the pope said Sunday in his weekly Angelus prayer.
“Together with the bishops of the country, I renew my call for peace and I implore those in authority not to ignore the cry of the poor and the needs of the people,” he said.
Gotabaya Rajapaksa, the president of Sri Lanka, announced his resignation on Saturday and left the country on a navy ship.
People furious about the Rajapaksa clan's incompetence and corruption, as well as the South Asian island nation's extraordinary economic problems, had been protesting for months before to the dramatic incident.