Vatican official assures Indians Church is not for fraudulent conversion

(November 11, 2011) A Vatican official currently visiting India reassured leaders of religions that the Catholic Church is not seeking conversions but only wants to deepen inter-religious ties to foster justice, peace and harmony. “I know that the Indian people are very intelligent, and can see what our real intentions are,” Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, president of the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Inter-religious Dialogue said on Thursday. The cardinal is currently on a 10-day tour to meet leaders from India’s main religions. The Vatican official said some Hindu groups' accusation that the Catholic Church is engaged in “fraudulent or forceful” conversion was not true. He said thousands of young people from other faiths study in Catholic educational institutions across the country but none accuse the Church of trying to proselytize them. The Vatican official, however, maintained that every person has “the fundamental right to preach, practice and profess one’s faith, but not to impose or force anyone to embrace a religion.” The French cardinal said believers in God have a lot of good things in common, such as love, justice, peace, brotherhood, co-existence and the fatherhood of God which should be used to promote the common good. The 68-year-old French prelate began his tour in Mumbai on Saturday where he met a Muslim community and their leaders. He has also met Hindu religious leaders in Pune and attended a colloquium on “Enhancing Hindu-Christian relations and collaboration for justice, peace and harmony.”