A Pope Francis visit to India could be a distant possibility
A recent meeting between the pope and PM Modi may have revived hopes, but one only needs to look beyond the frenzy
Pope Francis greets Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Borgo Egnazia resort during the G7 Summit in Savelletri near Bari, Italy, on June 14. (Photo: AFP)
By Nirendra Dev, New Delhi
Published: June 18, 2024 05:42 AM GMT
Updated: June 18, 2024 06:03 AM GMT
Humbled in the just concluded general election, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently flew to Italy at the invitation of his counterpart Giorgia Meloni for the G7 Summit, where he met Pope Francis.
Modi posted photographs on social media showing him hugging the pontiff, holding his hand, and sharing lighter moments with him.
“Met Pope Francis on the sidelines of the @G7 Summit. I admire his commitment to serve people and make our planet better. Also invited him to visit India,” the Indian premier said on X (formerly Twitter).
The opposition Congress Party mocked his post, and sarcastically wished him “better luck next time.” This triggered a war of words between Congress supporters and Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
The BJP’s southern Kerala state unit president K Surendran even alleged that the Congress X handle “appears to be managed by radical Islamists or urban Naxals… Now, it has even stooped to mocking the respected pope and the Christian community.”
Congress may have intended to remind Indians, especially Christians, that Modi had invited the pope in 2021 when he called on him at the Vatican.
Modi recalled the meeting during a television interview a few days before Kerala, with a sizable Catholic population, was to go to the polls on April 26 in the general election.
Christians make up 18 percent of the southern state’s 33 million people. It is also the base for two Eastern rite churches, the Syro-Malabar and Syro-Malankara Churches.
“I have invited him [Pope Francis] to visit India... Maybe he will fix his program [for the India visit] next year," Modi said in the interview broadcast on April 21 by Asianet News, based in Kerala.
The Vatican had by then confirmed a four-nation papal trip to Southeast Asia in September. However, India was not included on the pope’s itinerary.
Despite his repeated visits to Asia, Pope Francis has never visited India.
In 2016, the pope was said to be “almost sure” to visit India, but the Vatican dropped the plan and instead included Bangladesh and Myanmar for the 2017 papal trip.
Church sources at the time said the pope did not get an official invitation from India.
In October 2021, it was reported that he had “accepted” an invitation from Modi. But as is apparent now, nothing came of it.
This raises questions about India’s claims of inviting the pope to India.
From time to time, Modi and other BJP leaders have expressed their desire to host the supreme leader of the world’s Catholics in the world’s largest democracy, which has around 28 million Christians, making up 2.3 percent of the nation's population, which is more than 1.4 billion people.
Christians, especially Catholics, have been waiting for the pope's visit.
The BJP in recent years has been wooing Christians, especially in Kerala along with the tiny western state of Goa and the Christian-dominated northeastern states.
The efforts have yielded political dividends for the pro-Hindu party, which recorded a maiden win in Kerala in the just concluded general election. In coastal Goa and the hilly northeastern states, the BJP has ruled mostly though coalitions with regional outfits, including those of Christians.
M Chuba Ao, a tribal Christian from Nagaland, is the BJP’s national vice president. “I have never faced any contradiction in my being a devout Christian and my party cherishing firm nationalism and discarding minority appeasement — something the Congress, the Left and other opposition parties have been doing,” Chuba told UCA News.
However, the voters in the northeast region thought otherwise and the BJP was humbled as they voted against it. Nowhere was this more evident than in strife-torn Manipur, where tribal Christians and their institutions, including churches, have been singled out and attacked since May 3 last year.
The sectarian conflict has killed over 220 and displaced more than 50,000 people, the majority of them Christians. Nearly 350 places of worship, including churches, have been damaged.
The BJP lost both parliamentary seats in Manipur to their Congress party rival. It also paid for its “anti-minority” politics in the neighboring states of Nagaland, Meghalaya, and Mizoram, where Christianity is the largest religion. All candidates of the BJP and its provincial allies were defeated in the four states.
A senior Congress leader from the region, Kewekhape Therie, a Christian, said: “The mandate 2024 message is that the northeast voters do not agree with anti-Christian operations.”
Therie wasn’t only referring to the BJP, but also its parent organization, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS or National Volunteer Organization), which is known for its anti-Christian ideology and activities to counter Church missions, especially in the northeast region.
In fact, Modi’s repeat invitations to the pope to visit India may have to pass scrutiny from the RSS before it materializes.
The parent body of India’s ruling party does not approve of the pope’s presence on Indian soil fearing it may rekindle and boost the conversion of Hindus to Christianity.
RSS leader Indresh Kumar, who is in charge of its outreach to the Muslim minority, told a pre-Christmas meeting of tribal people in 2021, “Conversion causes differences. It causes hatred, it creates conflict... so if we want to make the world conflict-free, there is a need to respect all religions.”
That same year, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat exhorted his cadres to “keep making efforts to bring people who had left Hinduism and ensure that they can rejoin the Sanatan Dharma [eternal religion]… We will have to ensure no one leaves the Hindu religion. Those who have left will be brought back to our family.”
But perhaps out of electoral compulsions Modi and his BJP have been making overtures to win over Christians, as opposed to the Muslims who continue to be vilified and attacked in its election campaigns.
But does that mean, the Indian prime minister is looking forward to hosting Pope Francis? It remains the million-dollar question.
*The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official editorial position of UCA News.