Catholic Bishops hope PM Modi will invite Pope Francis to India during meet in Vatican

Modi will reach Rome on Friday to attend the G20 summit, which will be hosted by Italian PM Mario Draghi

As Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to meet Pope Francis during his forthcoming visit to Rome, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI) is expecting that he will extend an invitation to the pontiff to visit the country.

“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,” the Prime Minister said in a statement ahead of his departure from New Delhi.

Modi will reach Rome on Friday to attend the G20 summit, which will be hosted by Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi.

US President Joe Biden and several other leaders attending the G20 summit will also meet the head of the Catholic Church on the sideline of the conclave.

“It will be our wish that our Prime Minister would invite the Pope for a visit to India,” Felix Anthony Machado, the Secretary General of the CBCI, told DH.

The Prime Minister’s meeting with the Pope will be an “important” engagement, Foreign Secretary Harsh Shringla said in New Delhi. He, however, did not confirm if the Prime Minister would extend an invitation to the Pope for a visit to India.

Pope Francis had on October 2, 2016, stated that it was almost certain that he would visit India and Bangladesh in 2017 as part of a tour to Asia.

Though the CBCI had conveyed to the Modi Government its request for inviting the pontiff for a visit to India, the proposed papal visit did not take place so far, with New Delhi citing logistical difficulties in organising it.

The Pope did visit two other South Asian nations – Myanmar and Bangladesh – from November 27 to December 2, 2017, but not India.

Pope John Paul II was the last pontiff to visit India. He visited as many as 14 cities across the length and breadth of India during his 10-day tour in February 1986. He again visited India in November 1999, but his itinerary then was limited to New Delhi only. His successor, Pope Benedict XVI, gave India a miss during his eight-year-long papacy.

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