Card. Gracias : Pope’s concerns for Church in India

The four phase Ad limina visit of bishops from India – the fourth largest Episcopal conference in the world – entered its final stage on Thursday with bishops from the eastern region. They were led by the Archbishop of Mumbai, Cardinal Oswald Gracias, who described the meeting with Pope Benedict in an interview with Vatican Radio: “It was a very good meeting with the Pope. We spoke about the situation in India, the challenges we have, the good news we have and also about the hopes we have for the future. The Holy Father was very interested in knowing about the situation of how Indian Christians are treated, our efforts for inter-religious dialogue and also about how we go about our pastoral work”.

On Friday it was the turn of bishops from Karnataka, a region that has longed be plagued by fundamentalism that often targets religious minorities, in particular, the Christian minorities. Only last week Hindu extremists attacked a church, threatening its pastor. It is the latest in a series of episodes.

“These have been a cause of worry and the Holy Father specifically asked also if there is violence”, reveals Cardinal Gracias. “I would think that certain fundamentalist forces have tried to take advantage of a situation and are really creating a problem where there is none, creating a certain animosity towards Christians and the Gospel making it appear as if the whole of India is in danger because of the activities of the Christians and the missionaries which is not true at all. The Gospel is a message of love and peace and joy and human growth which does not threaten anybody. It’s not all over India, it is only in certain pockets but really I would not be honest if I did not say that there is violence in parts of the country even today. But it is certainly much, much better than before”.

Listen to full interview: