Pope says India's Catholics must welcome everyone, respect all faiths

Published: 2003-11-17

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- To be an authentic force for equality and religious harmony in India, the country's Catholics must welcome everyone without distinction for caste and must respect other faiths, Pope John Paul II said. "It is not enough that the Christian community hold the principle of solidarity as a lofty ideal; rather it must be seen as the norm for human interaction," the pope said in a Nov. 17 message to bishops from India. The bishops from Tamil Nadu state on India's southeastern coast were at the Vatican for the "ad limina" visits that bishops are required to make every five years. Pope John Paul said that in India, as in other parts of the world, social and economic problems are exacerbated by discrimination against whole sectors of the population.

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