Pope Greeted by Tensions in India

In his first visit to India in 13 years, a frail Pope John Paul II was welcomed with pomp today by government leaders eager to play down tensions between Christians and majority Hindus.

Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and President K.R. Narayanan greeted the pope at the presidential mansion with the trappings of a state visit, including cavalry officers in white, gold and red dress uniforms and a gun salute that reverberated among the red sandstone pillars.

On Friday, when the pope left Rome for New Delhi, a city where he has been burned in effigy, the Vatican issued a statement calling for “collaboration” between India’s 820 million Hindus and 23 million Christians. But before he even touched down, the right-wing World Hindu Council renewed its demand that the pontiff withdraw foreign missionaries from India.

The pope’s visit, which comes as attacks against Christians and Muslims have increased in recent years across India, has triggered a debate about the conversions of impoverished, mostly illiterate Hindus to Christianity. Some groups say the conversions are coerced.

Aboard the jetliner, papal spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls said the tension between Hindus and Christians is “not a religious problem but a human rights problem.”

“The biggest democracy in the world is facing a problem on whether or not to recognize religious freedom for everyone,” he said.

The visit, the pope’s second to India, put thousands of police officers on alert in New Delhi as he landed at a near-empty air force base. Security guards frisked about 300 journalists and officials, traditionally the only ones allowed on the base during visits by dignitaries.

The pope was met by Deputy Foreign Minister Ajit Panja and by local bishops and government officials.

As he was driven to the Vatican’s embassy in the city’s diplomatic neighborhood, fireworks lighted the sky ahead of Sunday’s Hindu festival of Diwali, or Festival of Lights.

On Diwali, John Paul will celebrate a Mass in the 70,000-seat Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium. Church leaders have incorporated an Indian motif on the dais, with a stylized depiction of an earthen lamp representing Diwali. The festival is marked by feasting, fireworks and lighting of lamps to represent the triumph of good over evil.