Restiveness Greets Pope in India

In his first visit to India in 13 years, Pope John Paul II was greeted Friday with a constellation of tensions between Christians and majority Hindus, a problem the pope’s spokesman called one of human rights, not religion.

As the pope left Rome for New Delhi, 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 poor, mostly illiterate Hindus to Christianity. Some groups say the conversions are done through coercion.

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, triggered thousands of police officers to go 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 people allowed into the base during visits by dignitaries.

The pope, who is 79 and in frail health, climbed down the stairs from the special Alitalia 747 flight. He was met by Deputy Foreign Minister Ajit Panja and by local bishops and government officials. Commentators said it was the most low-key arrival of his 22-year papacy.

As he was driven to the Vatican’s embassy, which is in the city’s diplomatic neighborhood, fireworks lit up 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.

Hindu fundamentalists, meanwhile, have prepared for the pope’s visit by staging marches and sit-ins in protest, demanding an apology for 16th-century killings by Portuguese Catholic colonialists during the Inquisition. They also demanded an end to conversions and a declaration by the pope that Christianity is not the only path to salvation.

On Saturday, the pope will visit Raj Ghat, the memorial to Mohandas K. Gandhi, who led India’s freedom movement with a campaign of nonviolence.

In recent years, attacks against religious minorities have been on the rise. Some commentators have blamed the attacks on the growing political strength of right-wing Hindu groups, such as the party of Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee.

Vajpayee, who is seen as the moderate face of his Bharatiya Janata Party, will call on the pope Saturday.

The pope’s visit will mark the closure of the synod of Asia’s Roman Catholic bishops. The bishops met in Rome earlier to finalize an 80-page document, which he will release, outlining the future of Christianity in Asia and the church’s relationship with the continent’s other religions.

Asia’s Christian leaders have called for showing greater respect and understanding of other religions, including Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism and animism, and respecting local customs.

John Paul has made dialogue between religions a principal theme as his church prepares to mark the start of Christianity’s third millennium.