Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India will meet with Pope Francis at the Vatican on Saturday morning, making him the fifth prime minister of India to visit a pope.
There are many expectations for this historic meeting, especially among Christian communities in India, where religious freedom has lost ground ever since Prime Minister Modi and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to power in 2014.
MARK VON RIEDEMANN
Director of Public Affairs and Religious Freedom, ACN
“The hope of this meeting is that Pope Francis can encourage a culture of dialogue together with Prime Minister Modi and encourage this dialogue between faith groups, and help Prime Minister Modi and the Indians understand that Christians and other faith groups are fully Indian.”
But there is also concern that the meeting could further anger Hindu nationalists who have instigated attacks against religious minorities.
MARK VON RIEDEMANN
Director of Public Affairs and Religious Freedom, ACN
“The Hindu hardliners see this visit of Prime Minister Modi and the Pope as an appeasement of religious minorities. So there is concern that this may trigger further controls in India by the Hindu nationalists and further violence against the minorities.”
India is a multi-religious democracy, where Hindus make up about 72 percent of the population, Muslims about 14 percent and Christians about 4.9 percent.
Although the country's constitution guarantees religious freedom, the current government has enacted stifling and discriminatory laws like the so-called anti-conversion laws.
MARK VON RIEDEMANN
Director of Public Affairs and Religious Freedom, ACN
“These laws are basically requested by Hindu nationalist groups, who are afraid that Hindus, or India's Hindu character, is under siege due to the growth of competing groups. And so these laws disproportionately affect the religious minorities in the states where they are. Christians and Muslims are the ones that are principally affected by these laws.”
Riedemann says many Christian charitable organizations have seen their mission work restricted because of these laws, and that some have had to completely shut down.
Expectations are high for the Pope's meeting with the Prime Minister of India. The hope is that their 30-minute conversation will set the country on a path of dialogue that respects all religious groups.
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