c. 1999 Religion News Service
VATICAN CITY _ An aging Pope John Paul II, embarking on what almost certainly will be his last foreign trip of the millennium, faces strong hostility from Hindu extremists in India and militant Orthodox clergy in the Republic of Georgia.
The Roman Catholic pontiff, 79 and ailing, will leave Friday (Nov. 5) for New Delhi on his 89th trip outside Italy in the 21 years of his papacy. It could well prove to be the most difficult he has undertaken.
The main purpose of his visit to India is to present the”apostolic exhortation”that will formally conclude a 1998 meeting of Asian bishops at the Vatican, one of a series of continent-wide synods he called to set the course of the church in the third millennium of Christianity.
John Paul previously visited India in 1986 without incident, but this trip comes at a time when Christian clergy are increasingly targets of violence by extremists, who destroy prayer halls and burn Bibles.
In two of the worst episodes, an Australian missionary and his two sons were burned alive in their vehicle in January, and a nun was abducted, stripped and forced to drink her captors’ urine in September.
Hard-line Hindus have demanded the pope ask pardon for past”atrocities”and promise to halt”forced conversions,”but the Rev. Dominic Emmanuel, spokesman for the Archdiocese of New Delhi, said the pope would not make an apology”under coercion.” The Polish-born John Paul chose to extend his trip to Asia with a 30-hour stop in the Caucasian Republic of Georgia as part of his attempt to improve relations between the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches.
It will be his first visit to a republic of the former Soviet Union and will take him to the region where Russia is battling breakaway Chechnya in a conflict he has deplored.
The hierarchy of the Georgian Orthodox Church has made clear it does not want the papal visit to become an ecumenical occasion and has no intention of following the example of Romanian Orthodox leaders, who prayed with the pope during his first visit to a predominantly Orthodox country.
During that visit last May, Romanian Patriarch Teoctist invited the pope to attend the Orthodox liturgy and was himself present at a papal Mass.
In Georgia, the pope will meet with Patriarch Ilia II and members of the Holy Synod at the Patriarchal Palace on Monday (Nov. 8). On Tuesday (Nov. 9), he will celebrate a Mass, without an Orthodox presence, in the Palace of Sports in the Georgian capital of Tbilisi.
Reports from New Delhi said authorities are so concerned for the pope’s safety that they suggested he stand behind bullet-proof glass when he celebrates Mass for an expected 60,000 worshippers Sunday (Nov. 7) in the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium.
Catholic organizers of the visit rejected the idea and also criticized police plans to search everyone attending the Mass and ban bottles of water.”Generally we use (the screen) when the prime minister speaks,”a police spokesman said.”Now they have refused it, and the responsibility is theirs.” But police said they would not stop an anti-pope march that left Goa, India, on Oct. 21 and was scheduled to arrive in New Delhi Thursday (Nov. 4). Goa was chosen as the starting point because of alleged massacres carried out there during the Inquisition.
Sadananda Kakake, secretary general of Vishwa Hindu Parishad, the Hindu World Council, challenged John Paul to offer a public apology for the massacres and”acts of cruelty”by the Portuguese colonial authorities to force the people of Goa and Vasai to convert to Catholicism 400 years ago.”The pope must ask pardon for these actions and put an end to conversions,”Kakake told the United News of India. He said he will seek a constitutional amendment to outlaw religious proselytizing and conversions in India.
Although tradition credits the Apostle Thomas with introducing Christianity to India and evangelization began with the Portuguese conquest of Goa in 1510, the 17.2 million Catholics in India account for less than 2 percent of a total population of close to 1 billion.
The pope has made what he calls the”new evangelization”a goal of the new millennium in Asia as elsewhere in the world, but he also has taken pains to underline his respect for other religions.
During a meeting of representatives of some 20 of the world’s religions _ including Hindus _ at the Vatican last week, John Paul praised both Indian independence leader Mahatma Gandhi and Mother Teresa of Calcutta for devoting their lives to peace, justice and liberty.
John Paul will pray at Gandhi’s tomb at Raj Ghat Saturday after meeting with President Kocheril Raman Narayanan, Prime Minister Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee and other government leaders.
In Georgia, the pope will meet Tuesday with President Eduard Shevardnadze, who served as Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev’s foreign minister during the period of glasnost and perestroika that led to the breakup of the Soviet Union.
DEA END POLK
