Catholics justify Pope’s stand

New Delhi: The normally publicity shy Christian community in India are suddenly very much in focus. The controversy over the Da Vinci Code has hardly been resolved, when a fresh one has erupted over Pope Benedict XV1’s remarks on religious conversions in India.

Catholics in the country believe the Pope, as head of the Church was within his rights to make his observations on an issue that is worrying the Christians in the country. Predictably the BJP has reacted sharply to his remarks and condemned it as rank interference in India’s internal issue.

When India’s new ambassador to the Vatican, Amitava Triparthi, presented his credentials, Pope Benedict had raised the question of ban on conversions in some states of the country.

``There are disturbing signs of religious intolerance which have troubled some regions of India, including the reprehensible attempt to legislate clearly discriminatory restrictions on the fundamental right of religious freedom,’’ Western news agencies quoted the Pope as saying.

The government while waiting for the exact read out of the exchange by ambassador Triparthi, issued a short statement on the basis of news reports.

``It is acknowledged universally that India is a secular and democratic country in which adherents of all religious faiths enjoy equal rights. The Constitution of India states that all persons are equally entitled to freedom of conscience and the right freely to profess, practice and propagate religion,’’ foreign ministry spokesman Navtej Sarna said.

While the BJP hit out hard against the Vatican, other political parties were more restrained. BJP spokesman Ravi Shankar Prasad said ``… the Pope’s statement is rank interference in our internal affairs.”

Without naming the Christian groups and Church, the BJP leader targeted them by pointing out, “any conversion based on fraud, allurement and intimidation is unconstitutional. The anti-conversion laws have been upheld by in Madhya Pradesh and Orissa, so why this apprehension.”

 The Pope was trying to reiterate the freedom of conscience guaranteed in the universal declaration of human rights, said Father Babu Joseph, spokesperson for the   Catholic Bishops Conference of India (CBCI).

“It is true that religious freedom is guaranteed in the Indian constitution. But it is not ensured as it should have been. It is not ensured everywhere in the country,”  Joseph added.