India Summit aims to improve Catholic-Hindu relations

(June 11, 2009) A top Vatican Official will head a Catholic delegation at a meeting with Hindu leaders to improve relations between the two communities and foster peace in India. Cardinal Jean-Louis Pierre Tauran, president of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, will lead an eight-member Catholic team at a Hindu-Catholic Church dialogue in Mumbai, western India. A 12-member team led by Shankaracharya Sri Jayendra Saraswati Swami, one of four top Hindu leaders in India, will represent Hinduism. Cardinal Oswald Gracias of Bombay, chief organizer of the June 12-13 dialogue, hails it as the "first official historic meeting between the pope's representatives and top Indian Hindu religious leaders to promote harmony and friendship between the two communities in this predominantly Hindu country." Cardinal Gracias, the First Vice President of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of India, says recent attacks on Christians in various parts of India underscore an "urgent need" to promote understanding among Hindu religious leaders about Christianity. Cardinal Gracias said the meeting will, with calmness and clarity, strive to discover commonalities and differences between the two religions so as to foster reconciliation. He also expressed hope that the meeting would convince Hindu groups about the need for dialogue to promote understanding. "I had discussed this with the Pope and it was decided to hold the meeting in Mumbai to coincide with the Bombay Archdiocesan Year of Peace and Harmony," he said. Other members in the Catholic team are Cardinal Telesphore Toppo of Ranchi, Apostolic Nuncio to India Archbishop Quintana Lopez, Archbishop Felix Machado of Nashik, Bishop Thomas Dabre of Poona, Bishop Gali Bali of Guntur and Bishop Raphy Manjaly of Varanasi. The organizers expect about 1200 people to participate in the two day conference and the rally.