NEW DELHI, Oct 30: The Prime Minister Narendra Modi, currently on a visit to Italy, called on the Pope Francis, the head of the Catholic Christians the world over, in the Vatican City on Saturday and extended him an invitation to visit India.
“Had a very warm meeting with Pope Francis. I had the opportunity to discuss a wide range of issues with him and also invited him to visit India,” said Modi in a social media post after the meeting.
Modi was scheduled to meet the Pope for half an hour but an informed source said the meeting went on for an hour. “Mr. Modi and the Pope discussed a wide range of issues aimed at making our planet better such as fighting climate change and removing poverty,” said the source. Modi was accompanied by National Security Adviser Ajit Doval, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla among others.
Modi gifted the Pope a silver candelabra and a book, The Climate Climb: India’s strategy, actions and achievements. The Pope gave Modi a collection of his main teaching documents and a bronze medallion featuring a tree and the words in Italian “The desert will become a garden.”
Pope Francis has been vocal about the need to act on climate change and spoken in the past against enduring conflicts in Syria and Afghanistan. He has called upon countries to take in refugees from Afghanistan and spoken against racism and other forms of hate crimes.
The Pope has called on countries to act urgently to deal with the issue of climate change. On Friday, he said, “Climate change can be faced with a renewed sense of shared responsibility for our world, and an effective solidarity based on justice, a sense of our common destiny and a recognition of the unity of our human family in God’s plan for the world.”
Modi became one of the leaders of the G20 who met the Pope on the sidelines of the summit in Rome. U.S. President Joe Biden met Pope Francis on Friday. The last Papal visit to India took place in 1999 when Pope John Paul II was hosted here. Pope Francis visited Sri Lanka in 2015 and he was hosted by Myanmar and Bangladesh in 2017. But on both the occasions, India was not part of his travel plans. He made history by visiting Iraq earlier this year, which was his first visit to the war-torn country. He also visited the United Arab Emirates in 2019.
Modi’s personal invite indicates that a Papal visit to India is likely soon.
Modi is the fifth Indian Prime Minister to have visited the head of Roman Catholics, the largest religious denomination in the world. In India, the Christians are the third largest religious community. According to Census 2011, they form 2.3 per cent of the population, behind Hindus (79.8%) and Muslims (14.2%).
Before Modi, other Indian Prime Ministers to meet the then Pope were Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi, I K Gujral, and Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
Modi will participate in the first session of G20 on Global Economy and Global Health. He arrived at the summit venue, where he was warmly welcomed by Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi. He had met Draghi for a bilateral meeting Friday, where they agreed on a Joint Statement on Italy-India Strategic Partnership in Energy Transition.
Modi will also meet French President Emannuel Macron, Indonesian President Joao Widodo and Singapore PM Lee Hsien Loong during his five-day trip abroad.
(Manas Dasgupta)