A Sri Lankan priest has been readmitted to the Roman Catholic Church a year after he was excommunicated for heresy. Father Tissa Balasuriya who wrote a controversial book on the Virgin Mary, has lead a high profile campaign against the Vatican ruling which he maintained misrepresented his views. The Vatican objected to some of his doctrinal teachings which it said 'twisted the integrity of the Catholic faith'. Excommunication is the most drastic measure the Roman Catholic Church can take and as our Religious Affairs Reporter Jane Little now explains the decision to lift Balasuriya's excommunication has come as a surprise to many of his supporters.

Since his excommunication in January last year, Father Balasuriya has appealed repeatedly to the Vatican, complaining that he hadn't been given a fair hearing. But now, in an interview with the BBC, he's welcomed the decision to readmit him to the church and said it followed six days of negotiation.

"I was able to speak quite freely and they endeavoured also to listen and to hear and respond. so I think that is part of the lesson that we all learned - that in such a process solutions can be reached."

Until his excommunication, Father Balasuriya was a little known catholic theologian who promoted interfaith dialogue in Sri Lanka - where the majority of the population is Buddhist. But when the Vatican decided to excommunicate him - the first time it had taken such a drastic step since 1988 when it excommunicated the French Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre - he became a cause celebre.

Catholics around the world lined up to criticise the Vatican for what they saw as its heavy handed and illiberal stance. But for the Vatican's doctrinal watchdog, the 73-year-old priest had committed a 'series of grave errors'.

In his 1990 book, Mary and Human Liberation he called into question fundamental Catholic beliefs. Those include the uniqueness of Jesus Christ, the doctrine of original sin, which holds that humans were all born in a state of depravity, and the need for baptism.

His interpretation of the Virgin Mary, emphasising her human nature and his support for the contentious issue of women priests also earned him black marks.