KOCHI: Thress cardinals of the Catholic Church met Prime Minister Narendra Modi at his office in New Delhi on Tuesday and expressed the grievances of the Christian community. They also placed a request to invite Pope Francis to the country to which the PM responded positively. Syro-Malankara Church Thiruvananthapuram Major Archbishop Baselios Cleemis Catholicos, Bombay Archbishop Cardinal Oswald Gracias and Syro-Malabar Major Archbishop Mar George Alencherry complained of the “discrimination in the allocation of minority welfare fund” and the demarcation of the Western Ghats’ buffer zones among other issues.
Modi had met the representatives of the Orthodox and Jacobite factions of the Malankara Church last month as part of finding an amicable settlement to the 100-year-old dispute between the two groups. Mar Alencherry said Modi promised to ensure proportionate distribution of the funds. Though the Church heads requested for the release of activist Fr Stan Swamy — arrested in connection with the Bhima Koregaon case — Modi is learnt to have told that it was a legal issue. “There was no political significance to the meeting. The PM lauded the services of the Church in the fields of education, social development and health,” said Cardinal Gracias.
Mizoram Governor and former BJP state president P S Sreedharan Pillai facilitated the meeting, but he could not attend it as he has quarantined himself after his wife tested positive for Covid-19.“The cardinals called me up to say the meeting was fruitful as the PM lent them a patient ear to their grievances,” said Pillai.“The efforts to solve the Orthodox-Jacobite Church dispute are also on,” said Pillai who added the second round of talks will begin after the end of his quarantine period.