Pope Benedict XVI meets with Indian bishops

Pope Benedict on Friday met individually with several bishops from India, who are in Rome on their ad limina visits. There are 30 ecclesiastical provinces of the Catholic Church in India, including give 5 of the Syro-Malabar rite and 2 of the Syro-Malankara.

“The Holy Father has expressed his concern for us, and we represent the Holy Father and his thoughts in our own dioceses,” said Bishop Raphy Manjaly of the Diocese of Varanasi. “We want to convey, and also give people an experience of that compassion of Christ which the Holy Father expresses so often in his writings and his speeches.”

Catholics make up less than 2% of the population in India, but Bishop Manjaly said the Church’s mission extends to the entire country.

“We consider that we are pastors, not only for the few Catholics who are in our dioceses, but we have a flock which comprises the entirety of humanity,” he told Vatican Radio. “So our charity, our concern, or work is for the whole of humanity, and for people without the confines of religion, or caste, or creed. We are meant for all.”

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