Archbishop of Colombo, His Eminence Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, has stirred debate within the Catholic community with a revelation of an unusual incident involving a same-sex wedding in a church.
Speaking during a Sunday service, the Cardinal said two Sri Lankan women had deceived an officiating priest and managed to marry in a Catholic church. He explained that one of the women had taken male hormone treatments, altering her appearance and leading the priest to believe she was a man.
“This incident took place right here in Sri Lanka. The priest was deceived because she even had facial hair,” Cardinal Ranjith said.
Expressing strong opposition to same-sex marriage, he questioned the viability of such unions, asking, “How can two men or two women lead a proper family life if they marry?”
The Cardinal also criticised the government’s recent promotion of LGBTQ+ tourism, warning it could damage the country’s cultural fabric. He urged President Anura Kumara Dissanayake to consider the implications, saying Sri Lankans must remain vigilant against outside influences that undermine local values.
At the same time, he called for compassion, stating that those “born with homosexual tendencies” should be treated with dignity, while cautioning against what he described as external pressures encouraging alternative lifestyles.
He further warned that some Western Christian nations, in his view, had experienced the erosion of cultural and moral values due to the normalisation of homosexuality.
