Sri Lanka Catholic leader bans Xmas trees in churches

Colombo, Sri Lanka | AFP | Wednesday 12/23/2015 - 08:13 GMT | 136 words

The leader of Sri Lanka's Catholics urged priests on Wednesday not to put up Christmas trees in their churches over the festive period, saying they had no religious significance.

Malcolm Ranjith, the archbishop of Colombo, was quoted in a statement as telling clergymen to "try to avoid putting up Christmas trees inside the churches".

"These do not belong to the sacred significance of Christmas but are more connected to social and family celebrations... They have also become symbols of Christmas in malls and public squares," the cardinal added.

Sri Lanka is a mainly Buddhist country but around 1.2 million of its overall population of 21 million people are Catholics.

December 25 is a national holiday in Sri Lanka and shops and streets are often lavishly decked out with Christmas decorations and lights in the build-up.