Senaka Weeraratna Assisted by Chat GPT

Restitutio in integrum has to be addressed by the Church which has benefited heavily under the Portuguese, Dutch and British rule for the large number of Churches forcibly built on Temple lands and destroyed Buddhist Temple sites and yet unaccounted for in Sri Lanka.

• The Portuguese Period (1505–1658): 
• Documented policies from the Goan religious councils led to the systematic destruction of prominent local temples (such as at Devundara, Trincomalee, and parts of the Kelaniya temple complex) and the gifting of confiscated Buddhist temple lands to Catholic religious orders by rulers like King Don Juan Dharmapala.
• This era saw the most direct physical displacement of Buddhist religious sites. Operating under the zeal of the Catholic Counter-Reformation, conquistadors and Christian missionaries e.g. Jesuits, systematically destroyed key Buddhist temples and Hindu Kovils in the maritime provinces. Prominent examples include the Kelaniya Raja Maha Viharaya (demolished in 1575, where the Church of St. Anne was subsequently erected) and the Devundara (Dondra) Upulvan Shrine. Income from the Viharagam and Devalagam (temple lands) was legally transferred to Catholic orders. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]
• The primary Roman Catholic religious orders active in Ceylon during the Portuguese era (1505–1658) were the Franciscans, Jesuits, and Dominicans, joined later by the Augustinians.  Their entry and presence led to numerous uprisings, fueled by resentment toward their attempts to impose Catholicism forcibly on the Buddhist Sinhalese.
• The Portuguese occupying the southwest lowlands in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, destroyed Buddhist and Hindu temples which often
  contained local records. They replaced the temples with Roman Catholic churches. Portuguese Historian Queyroz gives extensive details with names and locations of Catholic Churches built over destroyed Buddhist Temple sites.
• The Dutch Period (1658–1796): 
• During the Dutch colonial period in maritime Ceylon, the Dutch East India Company (VOC) issued strict executive decrees (placaaten) to suppress non-Protestant faiths. These legislative acts aimed to restrict local religious practices and promote Calvinism through civil discrimination.
•  While they were less prone to building directly over active temple structures, they formalized the institutional appropriation of land registries (thombos), using state administrative and economic privileges to entrench Calvinist institutions. [1, 2, 3]
• The Dutch East India Company (VOC) suppressed public non-Calvinist worship, banned the practice of Buddhism by Dutch  placaeten, restricted the rebuilding of indigenous religious sites, and redirected administrative control over properties.
• 1710/1711 Decrees: The VOC administration implemented explicit prohibitions against the open practice of Buddhism and Hinduism in areas under their control, categorizing local traditions through a severe colonial lens.
• 1732 Orders: Because earlier bans were frequently ignored by local populations, the Dutch intensified enforcement by directing village headmen to locate and dismantle remaining Buddhist and Hindu shrines in coastal districts. [1]
• The British Period (1796–1948): The British initially guaranteed the protection of Buddhism under the Kandyan Convention of 1815. However, following subsequent rebellions, the colonial state progressively separated itself from Buddhist custody and heavily subsidized Anglican and Protestant missionary schools. Vast tracts of Buddhist temple lands were expropriated under ordinances like the Waste Lands Ordinance, fundamentally disrupting the economic survival of traditional temples. [1, 2]

Modern perspectives on accountability

The Vatican formally repudiated the Doctrine of Discovery, clarifying that the 15th-century decrees used to legitimize colonial-era land seizures and the subjugation of Indigenous peoples did not reflect the Catholic faith. This historic action directly answered decades of intense pressure and explicit demands from Indigenous advocates, reaching a turning point after Pope Francis’s 2022 penitential journey to Canada. [1, 2, 3, 4]

·  Historical context: The doctrine stems from 15th-century “papal bulls” (such as Dum Diversas in 1452 and Inter Caetera in 1493) issued by popes like Nicholas V and Alexander VI. These decrees granted European monarchs the right to seize lands populated by non-Christians and reduce “infidels” to perpetual slavery. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

·  Acknowledgment of manipulation: The Vatican admitted that these texts were politically manipulated by colonial powers to justify immoral acts, colonial expansion, and forced assimilation without opposition from ecclesiastical authorities. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

·  Distinction on formal rescission: While the Vatican forcefully rejected the underlying mindset and declared that the documents “did not adequately reflect the equal dignity and rights of Indigenous peoples,” it stopped short of a formal legal “rescission” or “abrogation”. In May 2026, Pope Leo XIV issued his first encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas. In this document, he took the unprecedented step of offering a formal, institutional apology for the Holy See’s direct role in legitimizing the trans-Atlantic slave trade and colonization through those original 1452 and 1455 papal directives. While previous popes had apologized for the actions of individual Christian colonizers, Leo XIV’s statement directly confronted the institutional culpability of the papacy itself, describing the historical delay in fully denouncing slavery as a “wound in Christian memory.” [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

Sri Lanka

These happenings and public apology by the Vatican for the Crimes of the Church in lands occupied by indigenous people have yet to enter the public discourse and debate in Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka’s Parliament maintains a deafening silence on demands for accountability. This is moral cowardice of the highest order.

Though the Print Media remains conservative and non – investigative of colonial crimes the Social Media have seized the opportunity to fill the vacuum and provide space for airing public opinion calling for Justice and Restitutio in Integrum from our colonial masters. 

This is a welcome change.

Senaka Weeraratna

Assisted by Chat GPT