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The Indian Church: Catholicism and Indian Nationhood Mathew N. Schmalz 209 AFTER THE INDIAN GOVERNMENT RECOGNIZED Vatican City as a state and exchanged ambassadors, Pope John Paul II announced that he would make a state visit and a “pilgrimage” to India in 1986. The Catholic Bishops Council of India (CBCI) promulgated several documents that invoked the spirit of the Second Vatican Council to renew the Indian Church.1 Many Indian Catholics hoped that the papal visit would bring international attention to the Indian Catholic movement as well as add credibility to Catholic contributions to Indian civil society. These hopes were concealed in language that sought to contain or negate the political resonance of the papal visit; according to the Catholic periodical The Examiner, the very presence of the Pope should be for us a sign and hope of the unity which is necessary to solve the manifold problems which beset the Church and country. The Pope will not be expected to offer concrete solutions to the political and social problems that often lead to divisions and disunity. The Church was not given a mission in the political, social and economic order. Christ set it as a religious one.2 To affirm its religious nature, the papal visit was presented under the theme, “A Call to Unity.” The pope would first visit Delhi and Shillong, then travel south to Goa and Bombay.3 Great care was taken not to raise any issues that might be considered controversial. The pope generally refrained from talking about conversion, caste, abortion, and other incendiary issues. Instead, he invoked Mahatma Gandhi and his legacy to speak in general terms about the quest for justice. The only controversial event occurred when the pope criticized the Goan hierarchy for allowing only priests inside the Basilica of Dom Bosco for his mass, while nuns and Catholic laity were forced to remain outside. Such Chapter 12 210 The Challenge of Accommodation rhetorical restraint was essential, given the often tenuous position of Catholicism within independent India. Controversy was indeed waiting for the pope. Upon his arrival in New Delhi, demonstrators met him with placards opposing conversions and denouncing the foreignness of Catholicism. Wider protests had been planned, but 300 demonstrators were arrested as a “precautionary measure” before they began their march.4 Recognizing the controversy that the papal visit could incite, Urdu-language periodicals with a largely Muslim readership welcomed the pope. Also attempting to quiet the controversy, the Hindustan Times published an editorial describing the pope’s visit as “sentimental” and of “little political significance.”5 Nevertheless, such views were in the minority as many Indian journalists portrayed the Catholic Church as an antinational force.6 The issue of conversion was the centerpiece of an article in the Hindi news magazine Awakash alleging that foreign missionaries received tens of millions of rupees from abroad.7 In the widely circulated Hindi periodical Dinman, Ramsevak Srivastav initially praised the significant contributions of Catholic colleges, schools, and hospitals to Indian society, but he then proceeded to argue that the Church violated Indian traditions of secularism.8 For Srivastav, conversions to Christianity represented a failure of Hinduism; Catholicism was a “time bomb” waiting to explode within Indian society. Such fears were echoed by Hindu nationalist leaders. Balraj Madhok, the head of the Hindu nationalist organization Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), spoke of plans to “convert 200,000 Indians to Christianity” as a “present” for the pope.9 Madhok attributed the government’s reception of the pope to the influence of Sonia Gandhi, the Italian-born wife of then–prime minister Rajiv Gandhi. The invective surrounding Catholicism only worsened with John Paul II’s return visit in 1998. Hindu groups took out full-page advertisements asking the pope to renounce conversion. When he affirmed conversion by promulgating his postsynodical apostolic exhortation Ecclesia in Asia, Hindu communities throughout the world protested.10 The controversy surrounding the papal visits to India crystallized deep and long-held suspicions about the Catholic presence in Indian society. As early as three years after Indian independence, the state government of Madhya Pradesh accused foreign missionaries of using financial incentives to convert members of tribal groups.11 In a recent series of widely publicized books, the journalist Arun Shourie branded Christian exclusivism as antinational. In many ways, the animus directed against Catholicism is surprising. Catholics constitute a relatively small community within India’s vast and diverse population. However, the Indian Church has a presence and, some would say, a power that far exceeds...

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