Pope Francis plans India visit next year

Pope Francis plans India visit next year


goo.gl/mvSfqW          CAMIL PARKHE | Wednesday, 5 October 2016 AT 10:13 AM IST
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Pope Fancis, India visit, CBCI, christian community, Catholic Church, Pune, Camil Parkhe
PUNE: Ending speculation on his visit to India, Pope Francis has said that he is planning to visit India next year. The Pontiff spoke of his travel plans while addressing the media persons aboard the papal flight after concluding his visit to Georgia and Azerbaijan on October 2.

During the press conference, Pope Francis said that he plans to visit India, Portugal and Bangladesh next year, UCAN, the Union of Catholic Asian News, has reported.

The Pope is scheduled to visit Fatima Pilgrimage Centre in Portugal to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the apparition of Mary in May 2017.

Speaking on his Asia visit, the Pope said that his visit to India and Bangladesh is ‘quasi-sure’.

Earlier this year, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI), the apex Catholic Church body in the country, had invited the Pope to India and also urged Prime Minister Modi to formally invite the Pope.

It may be noted that Foreign Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj had led India’s official delegation to the Vatican for the cannonisation of Mother Teresa on September 4. The next day, she had also called on  Pope Francis.

So far, there have been three papal visits to India. Pope Paul VI had visited India in 1964 to attend the international Eucharistic Congress in Mumbai.

Pope John Paul II had visited India in 1986 when Rajiv Gandhi was the PM and again in 1999 when Atal Bihari Vajpayee was the PM.

FORMAL INVITATION
Pope Francis is both the leader of the Catholic Church and also the head of Vatican City state. As per the protocol, he needs formal invitations both from the Church and the country’s government to visit the country. 

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