H.H. Pope Francis awards the Order of St Gregory the Great to Catz Research Associate

Catz Research Associate Dame Shalini Amerasinghe Ganendra has been awarded The Order of St Gregory the Great by H.H. Pope Francis, The Holy See (DSG, Dame). This Award is given in recognition of her far reaching cultural endeavours benefitting transnational understanding and her position as a community leader. This Award was established as the last of the Papal Knighthoods (1831) and the first to admit women.

Shalini commented: “I thank His Holiness Pope Francis and the Church for their faith in me, and am particularly honoured to receive this award during his luminous stewardship. Pope Francis is a blessing and salve of wisdom and kindness, with reverberating strength that supports us all. He gives us comfort and hope in compassion. There is much more work to do to promote understanding and appreciation of our communities through the ‘culture of encounter.’ I feel empowered to build on platforms of beauty and outreach. My time at St Catz has been an integral part of this journey.”

Shalini Ganendra recently published Veins of Influence, using as case study important early colonial photographs from various collections including the PRM, Royal Collection, Rothschild Foundation and Royal Asiatic Society, to illustrate her novel visual construct, veins of influence. For order: https://www.veinsofinfluence.com/