Secular India - State Mourning for Pope?

Pope John Paul II passes away, Catholics mourn for pope, Bush hails Pope as a ‘Hero for the ages’, Special services in churches to mark Pope’s death, Cuba has ‘surprise’ Pope mourning, Indian leaders pay homage to the pope. So far the headlines read OK. But, suddenly my eyes focussed on a small boxed news item, even while my mind was trying to understand the rational. It read "3-day state mourning in India", and went on further ... government has declared a three day state mourning from Sunday ... Non-sense, what the hell is happening, why for pope?

I could not help, but to think about the last time the secular India mourned for a religious leader. No doubt, we have so many faiths and innumerable religious leaders, but when did we had a state mourning for any head of religion- Hindu or otherwise? I tried hard to recollect about Shri Chandrasekarendra Saraswathi, the then head of one of the India's most respected Kanchi Kamakoti Peetam. And few other instances, but in vain. So, the grappling question, why pope?

He is not an Indian, not even the head of all christians in the world but only for catholics. I became curious and wanted to know the Catholic population in India and when I found the page it showed a mere 1.54% translating to roughly about 16 millions. So, the question still lingers? What is so special about pope, which was not accorded to any other religious head? Or could it be that somebody is behind the decision taken with Catholic Sonia in mind?

Probably it would do good to see what our neighbours in Asia do. After all, Asia despite the massive evangelical attempts by the church is yet to be fully harvested. Except for Philippines, East timor and Australia, christians are in minority in other Asian countries. Understandably these two states have national mourning. Look at SAARC nations- No... further east Singapore, Malaysia, Cambodia, Vietnam- No... China, Taiwan- No... not even Hong Kong (which anyway needs orders from mainland)... west asia (Egypt mourns for three days). Interestingly, I came across a report in Irish Examiner, where Dan Buckley argues that pope deserves one day mourning in Ireland considering all he has done for Ireland. As of now Ireland, which has about 76% catholics - hasn't announced national mourning. That's surprising, isn't it. Consider China, where christianity is practiced by about 5 millions underground fearing state persecution even now. When pope visited Asia in 1999, China denied him permission to travel Hong Kong and it didn't allowed any bishops from mainland to attend the Asian Bishops meet in Delhi addressed by pope. Recently, after pope's death it even blocked messages being posted in the web expressing grief. Our own comrades, who don't let go any opportunity without raising hue and cry about BJP, RSS et. al. wouldn't talk against China, but thats for another story.

Lets have a look at what he did to earn our sympathy? His last visit to India was in 1999 November, which saw large scale protests by Hindu organisations against the visit with the central theme being pope’s call for christian asia. Sensing this, church assured that visit doesn’t have any hidden agenda for evangelisation, especially in the context of proposed promulgation of report of the Asian synod in Delhi by pope. Malankara Archbishop Mar Basellios (from Kerala, who in the previous year has attended the synod held in the Vatican) told that the report mainly contains plans chalked out by the Synod to attain universal brotherhood in the next millennium in tune with the teachings of Jesus Christ. Also read about the inter-religious meeting organised by the church to remove the misgivings. Fine. But what happened later.

The Asian synod, Ecclesia in Asia promulgated by pope called upon Church leaders on the continent to step up conversion and evangelisation and spread Jesus Christ's mission of service and love. Let me quote some excerpts from other reports below.

• … "Just as the first millennium saw the cross firmly planted in the soil of Europe, and the second in that of America and Africa, so may the third Christian millennium witness a great harvest of faith on this vast and vital continent," he said…, even while calling for a “fruitful dialogue leading to a new relationship of understanding and solidarity among the followers of all religions”…
• … document that the Pontiff signed and released at New Delhi's Sacred Heart Cathedral reaffirms the Catholic Church's “ardent affirmation of faith in Jesus Christ as the only Saviour”… (emphasis mine)
• … While acknowledging that Christ is often perceived as "foreign" in Asia, he (pope) said: "The peoples of Asia need Jesus Christ and his Gospel. Asia is thirsting for the living water that Jesus alone can give." … (emphasis mine)

And contrast these statements with what Latin catholic bishop Dr M Soosai Packyam (before pope’s visit) said, … there was no basis for the Sangh Parivar's argument that the Catholic Church did not recognise the values of other religions. Catholicism realises that salvation is possible through other religions also … (emphasis mine).

But, after the visit the church didn’t saw any reason to speak about fruitful dialogue and we had the Archbishop Alan de Lastic tutoring us that evangelisation did not amount to a call for religious conversion. In the same report, Dr Dominic Emmanuel of the CBCI sought to clarify that mention of the word ‘conversion’ in the Asian Synod document did not mean religious conversion, but “a change of heart and for the Christians to become better human beings”.

When it comes to the Indianisation of the church as demanded by BJP, RSS etc. Vatican never answers. That’s alright, but what about a section of the church itself demanding Indianisation. It would be worth to remember that coinciding with the pope’s visit in 1999, Syro-Malabar church raked up the old question and even brought out the Liturgical Action Supplement, highlighting their demand from oriental congregation. A follow-up article is here. But, as I understand that nothing happened later.

In effect we are observing a national mourning for a man who tried to destroy our shared culture - hindus, sikhs, parsis, buddhists, jains all together. All this in the name of spreading the gospel by exploiting the poor and illiterates of the third world mostly by means of pecuniary benefits.

When majority of the nations move along with their work after expressing grief, why are we mourning? Again, I could not help but think about Catholic Sonia and her coterie that goes to any extent to please her. Was the decision taken by the home ministry headed by Shivraj Patil? Or was it taken at the highest level? Sorry, you've got me wrong. I am not talking about the poor prime minister, but about Sonia aka Manmohan's boss.

This nation deserves an answer for these questions. Mr. Prime minister, do you have anything to say?

Asiaweek reported that, during his visit to Raj Ghat – M K Gandhi’s samadhi (mausoleum) - pope used Gandhi’s own quote, while writing in the memorial guest book. I use the same quote here to conclude this. Christians better remember this.

"A culture, cannot survive if it attempts to be exclusive."

Tailpiece

1. Forget about pope. We’ve seen numerous instances where hindus and hindu gods have been ridiculed openly by the baptists. Paintings of hindu gods in toilet seats and lingerie are samples. Here is a sample that shows the hatred of Christians against not only hinduism but against any other religion.
2. As I was just finishing this, Google News had captured this - The US Media and the pope – an assault on separation of church and state from World Socialist Web Site (WSWS). Offers an insightful analysis.

Forthcoming. I might also write about these when I get some time. Keep checking the page.

1. Papal double standards

· Part-1: Euthanasia – Pope John Paul II and Terri Schiavo

· Part-2: India to Mexico – How conversion changes from “basic human rights” to “vigorously defend your faith”

2. Why the next pope shouldn’t be an Indian?