ASIA/INDIA – Prime Minister Narendra Modi meets with Pope Francis and invites him to visit India
New Delhi (Agenzia Fides) – “I met Pope Francis on the sidelines of the G7 summit. I admire his commitment to serving the people and improving our planet. I have also invited him to visit India”, he declared on his official channels of communication the Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, recently elected for his third consecutive term. Modi had already met with Pope Francis in 2021 at the Vatican, and now this new meeting, immortalized by the media around the world, has had a powerful echo in the Indian media and public opinion.
Indian newspapers and television channels have reported on Pope Francis’ speech at the G7 summit, highlighting how the pontiff has urged leaders of democracies and the most industrialized countries to keep human dignity first in development. and use of artificial intelligence, an issue that strongly challenges the Indian nation.
Reactions to the new personal meeting between the Pope and Modi have been diverse. Exponents of the Indian Catholic community have expressed their optimism and hope that, after the meeting, the chances of the Pope visiting the nation will increase, hoping that the meeting will have a positive impact on relations between India and the Holy See.
However, according to some newspapers, the fact that Modi shook hands and even hugged the head of the Catholic Church did not please some Hindu political leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Modi’s party: in eleven Indian states, Most governed by the BJP, there are so-called “anti-conversion laws”, regulations that subject the possibility of a person to religious conversion to the scrutiny of a court, which affects freedom of conscience. These laws are mainly intended to counteract the activities of Christians, considered “proselytism.”
Other opposition politicians have recalled that Narendra Modi recently instrumentalized the religious factor, using religious rhetoric and presenting himself to voters as “a sent from God”, which is why they have questioned Modi’s sincerity in his embrace of the pontiff.
In this regard, the Indian Jesuit Fr. Cedric Prakash, analyst and writer, states: “We must understand and demonstrate with facts that this is not the embrace of a hypocrite. Modi and his party in these years of government have made the “Christian and Muslim minorities in India. We must demonstrate with concrete policies that the Government respects the Constitution and the principles of citizenship for citizens of any religious denomination.” Furthermore, the Jesuit continues, “the verbal invitation to the Pope, which is certainly very welcome – his presence would be a source of pride for all of us – must be translated into a real and official invitation: we hope that our government will present it to the Holy See as soon as possible. as soon as possible, since it was said (and then not formalized) in 2021. If the Pope comes to India, he will surely be able to highlight the plight of the poor, the most vulnerable and those who suffer the most, the fishermen and farmers, of the indigenous people: their presence among us would be a blessing. We therefore urge Prime Minister Modi to take concrete and real steps now for the invitation to Pope Francis.”
(PA) (Agenzia Fides 17/6/2024)
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