It is more than 20 years since a pope set foot in India. In 1999, an ailing Pope John Paul II made what reporters called a “tense” visit to the capital, New Delhi. The 79-year-old pontiff made a strong defence of religious freedom during his 62-hour trip.
“In the dusk of his two-decade papacy,” wrote the Chicago Tribune, “the pope made no concessions or conciliatory gestures to those Indians and Hindus who feel that Western civilisation has weakened their culture and that the work of Christian missionaries has enfeebled their religion.
