Thiruvanathapuram: Even as the federal government dilly-dallies in taking any decision on the request by the Catholic community in the country to extend an invite for Pope Francis so that he can visit India, the Kerala government has sent out an invite to the Pope, urging him to visit the state, where there is a large chunk of Christian believers, at an earliest convenient date.
The 2011 census shows Christians formed 18.38 percent of Kerala’s 33.4 million people.
The invite from Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan was handed over to Pope Francis by tourism minister Kadakampally Surendran on March 15. Surendran, who visited the Pope in Vatican, had a brief personal meeting with him. He went to Italy after attending International Tourism Fair in Berlin.
“It was a hearty visit. Pope Francis accepted our invitation and expressed his desire to learn more about Kerala,” said Surendran. The visiting minister handed over a pack of assorted varieties of spices from Kerala and the wooden sculptor of a caparisoned elephant to the Pope as the state’s gift. “Progressive stance taken by Pope Francis in many issues has always attracted me,” Surendran said.
When Pope Francis planned a tour of Myanmar and Bangladesh in November last year, the Catholic community in India hoped that India would also be part of the itinerary. There were efforts from many quarters, including from the Catholic Bishops’ Confederation of India, to ensure an invite from the federal government to the Pope. But the BJP-led government didn’t take any decision on the requests.
Sources in the state government said the LDF government viewed this an opportunity not only to win the support of minority Christian community but also as a chance to embarrass the BJP. If the Pope accepts Kerala’s invitation, the federal government will naturally be compelled to provide all diplomatic courtesies for the head of state to his visit.
In 1986, Pope John Paul II had visited Kerala as part of his India tour that lasted for 10 days and covered 14 cities.