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”.