It came after the Thera expressed readiness to negotiate with all with regard to communal and religious clashes.

The cardinal’s office declined to name the politician involved, saying he did not want to gain political mileage out of it.

At the meeting, Gnanasara Thera thanked the Cardinal for objecting to sterilizations and tuition classes on Sundays.

He handed over a related proposal he submitted to the then president Mahinda Rajapaksa in 2012 and details of the sterilizations carried out by NGOs.

The Cardinal explained that everybody had a duty to safeguard Sri Lanka’s Sinhala Buddhist identity.

BBS CEO Dilanthe Withanage and several monks too, participated in the discussion.