By Jose Kavi
New Delhi, Oct 23, 2021: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to meet Pope Francis at the Vatican prior to the G20 summit, a section of the Indian media reported October 23.
Prime Minister Modi is scheduled to attend the October 30-31 G-20 summit in Rome.
According to The Free Press Journal, the prime minister plans to leave for Rome on October 28 and meet with the head of the Catholic Church in the Vatican next day
The Hindustan Times too reports that Modi is understood to be leaving India on October 28 night to meet the 84-year-old sovereign of Vatican City State as a courtesy call.
However, the government is “tight-lipped about the prime minister’s travel itinerary,” it adds.
The October 29 event will be the first meeting between Modi, leader of the world’s largest democracy, and Pope Francis, who heads the largest Christian denomination.
Pope Francis has expressed his desire to visit India several times since becoming the leader of the Catholic Church on March 13, 2013, a year before Modi became the Indian prime minister.
The Indian government has put the papal visit on hold for undisclosed reasons.
In the past eight years, Pope Francis has visited 52 countries, starting with Brazil in July 2013. His last visit was to Hungary and Slovakia in September this year.
The pontiff has visited India’s neighbors — Bangladesh, Myanmar and Sri Lanka.
Other Asian countries visited by Pope Francis are Japan, Iraq, the Philippines, South Korea, Thailand, and United Arab Emirates.
Church sources in India have expressed the hope that the Modi-Pope meeting will pave way for a papal visit to the country in near future. However, there has been no official word from the Church authorities about the meeting between the two leaders.
The report about the two leaders meeting has come amid increasing attacks on Christians in various parts of India.
More than 300 incidents of violence targeting Christians were reported this year with Uttar Pradesh topping the list, according to a fact-finding report released on October 21.
Groups such as the United Against Hate, Association for Protection of Civil Rights and United Christian Forum, say most attacks occurred in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Haryana, and Delhi.
A C Michael, national coordinator of the United Christian Forum told press persons that there have been constant attacks against the minority community in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand.
India ranks 12 in the Catholic world with more than 20 million followers. With 174 dioceses, it is the fourth largest bishops’ conference in the world.