Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who came to Europe to attend the meeting, visited Pope Francis at the Vatican. He said in a tweet that day that he had invited the Pope to visit India.
(Vatican News NetworkOn the morning of October 30th, Pope Francis received Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of the Republic of India. The two sides held talks in the Royal Seat of the Pontifical Building. Afterwards, Prime Minister Modi met with Cardinal Palolin, Secretary of State of the Holy See, and Archbishop Paul Richard, Secretary-General of the Department of State and State Relations of the Holy See. The announcement in the press room of the Holy See stated that “in a brief conversation, the existing cordial relationship between the Holy See and India was mentioned.”
The Prime Minister of India gave the Pope a silver candlestick and a book on commitment to environmental protection. The Pope presented Prime Minister Modi with a bronze plaque that read “The desert will become a garden”, in addition to the Pope’s documents, this year’s World Peace Day proclamation, and the Pope and the Great Imam of Azhar Human Brotherhood Document signed in Abu Dhabi on February 4, 2019.
Prime Minister Modi’s trip to Europe is to attend the G20 summit in Rome that day, and then to Glasgow, Scotland, to attend the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference to be held from October 31st to November 12th the next day.
Before Modi, another Indian prime minister who had been received by the Pope was Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who met with John Paul II on June 26, 2000. In addition, in 2016, on the opportunity of Sister Teresa of Calcutta to be listed as a sacrament, an official delegation led by the Foreign Minister of India was also received by Pope Francis in Rome.
The Catholic Church of India has made great efforts to promote peace among citizens. Against the background of frequent violent actions against Christians, the Bishops’ Conference of India has been seeking dialogue with the government for the benefit of the country.
As Prime Minister Modi stated in his tweet, he had invited the Pope to visit India during his meeting with the Pope that day. The Indian side invited the Pope to visit the country in 2017, because Pope Francis will visit India’s neighbors Bangladesh and Myanmar in 2018. But during that visit, the pope could no longer visit India.
It should be mentioned that two popes have visited India. One is Pope Paul VI, who came to Mumbai on the opportunity to attend the International Eucharist Congress in December 1964; the other was John Paul VI. II, he visited India twice, in February 1986 and November 1999.
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