Churches in Sri Lanka remained shut on Sunday, a week since the April 21 Easter Sunday bombings that killed 253 people.
Archbishop of Colombo Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith held a televised mass on Sunday, attended by President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, the BBC reported.
He called the attacks "an insult to humanity" in the service, broadcast from a chapel in his residence.
"Today during this mass we are paying attention to last Sunday's tragedy and we try to understand it, " Cardinal Ranjith said.
"We pray that in this country there will be peace and co - existence and understanding each other without division. "
While Sri Lanka's churches were empty, people gathered for a public service outside St Anthony's Shrine in Colombo - the site of one of the deadliest bombings.
There, Buddhist monks joined Catholic priests for prayers in a show of solidarity with the Christian community.
The church's bells tolled at 8. 45 a. m. , the exact moment a bomber detonated his device one week ago.