The pontiff, who was escorted to the saluting dais by the President's body guards, was received by President K R Narayanan, First Lady Usha Narayanan, Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh and Minister of State for External Affairs Ajit Panja, at a brief but impressive ceremony, at the majestic forecourt.
Analysis by JPR
Pope got more than a polite welcome. It was a rousing welcome. Many of the admirers were Hindus in the Stadium. it was only 2/3rds full.
The stage show was superb and completely Indian in its form, content and scope . They held their palms together in an admiration of a man of God. The Hindus loved him as a person, but not the Catholic religion's immutable stand & compulsion on evangelization, which is and must be the topmost on the minds of devout catholics. Evangelization / Conversion / Proselytization are synonymous with microscopic variations & are the main and only purpose of being and living a catholic esp in the higher echelons. That is the main objection from the ideological side of VHP, Bajrang Dal and Shiv Sena. I don't see any compromise in this ideological divide between the VHP and its ilk's Hindutva, and the Catholic's only purpose in life, namely evangelization.
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