By Jose Kavi
New Delhi, Oct 28, 2021: The meeting of Pope Francis and Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been confirmed by the Vatican and the Indian government.
“During my visit to Italy, I will also visit the Vatican City, to call on His Holiness Pope Francis and meet Secretary of State, His Eminence Cardinal Pietro Parolin,” says a statement Prime Minister Modi issued October 28 before his depature for a two-nation journey.
On the same day, Asia News, a Catholic news agency published from Rome, reported that the Vatican has confirmed Modi’s 30-minute talk with the Pope at 8:30 am on November 30.
“For Prime Minister Modi, this meeting is politically significant. In power since 2014, the Indian leader had never requested an audience at the Vatican before,” the agency reported.
Earlier on October 27, the Kerala Catholic Bishops’ Council said it had come to know about the Modi-Pope meeting from official circles. “There is no doubt that this historical meeting will bring more vigor and warmth to relations between our nation, the Vatican and the Catholic Church,” said the council’s statement in Malayalam.
The Kerala bishops’ council wished success to the prime minister’s programs in Rome and Italy.
Prime Minister Modi’s statement on his Rome visit was issued by the Press Information Bureau, the Indian government’s nodal agency that disseminates information to media on government plans, policies, program initiatives and achievements.
The statement pointed out that the prime minister is visiting Rome and the Vatican City at the invitation of his Italian counterpart Mario Draghi. He will then be at Glasgow in Scotland November 1-2 on invitation from the British Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
In Rome, Modi will attend the 16th G20 Leaders’ Summit that will address global economic and health recovery from the pandemic, sustainable development, and climate change.
“This will be the first in-person Summit of the G20 since the outbreak of the pandemic in 2020 and will allow us to take stock of the current global situation and exchange ideas on how the G20 can be an engine for strengthening economic resilience and building back inclusively and sustainably from the pandemic,” stated the prime minister.
Asia News says Modi’s meeting with the Pope is “politically important for India, as it is the first visit to the Vatican by the Hindu nationalist leader, head of the government since 2014.”
The agency also points out that Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) includes “radical groups that openly claim that Christians are a threat to Indian identity, going so far as engaging in violent anti-Christian behavior.”
The last meeting between a Pope and an Indian prime minister was in 2000 when Atal Bihari Vajpayee, also a BJP member, met in Pope John Paul II.
Pope Francis had in September 2016 received an official Indian delegation for the canonization of Mother Teresa of Calcutta. On that occasion, the Modi government was represented by then External Affairs Minister late Sushma Swaraj.
Meanwhile the meeting raises hope for a possible papal visit to India. Although the Indian Church has requested the government several times to invite the pope. An official invitation has never arrived from New Delhi because of the opposition of radical Hindu nationalists, Asia News reports.
According to the news agency, two Popes have travelled to India – Pope Paul VI in 1964 to Bombay (now Mumbai) and John Paul II in 1986 to 14 cities and to New Delhi in 1999.