Pope John Paul II arrived in India yesterday for a two-day state visit, amid protests by a vocal minority of Hindu right-wingers and a Vatican warning against "fundamentalism".
The Pope arrived just after 8 p.m. (2.30 p.m. Irish time) at New Delhi's international airport, where he was met by the Minister of State for External Affairs, Mr Ajit Panja.
His trip will include the announcement of the report of the Asian synod held in the Vatican last year and he will celebrate a public Mass tomorrow in Delhi's Nehru Stadium.
Hindu fundamentalist groups have held several protests in the run-up to the visit, demanding an end to alleged forced conversions and a papal apology for abuses carried out by Christian settlers 400 years ago. New Delhi police have rounded up more than 30 activists of the Hindu right-wing Shiv Sena group, which has threatened to disrupt the visit.
The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (World Hindu Council) called on the Pope to withdraw all foreign missionaries from India.
Speaking to journalists accompanying the Pope, the Vatican spokesman, Dr Joaquin Navarro Valls, said yesterday the Holy See took a serious view of the protests, even if they were a "only an insignificant and orchestrated phenomenon". He said: "This is not a religious issue but rather one that should be viewed from the human rights perspective, because it rests on the question of freedom of thought."
The fact the extremists were "making a lot of noise" proved their message had limited appeal, he added. "Otherwise they would not have to struggle so hard to get their views across."
Christian leaders are hoping the papal visit will help to focus global attention on violence against their community, which makes up only 2.4 per cent of India's overwhelmingly Hindu population.
Around 150 incidents of violence against Christians have been reported in the past two years, including the gruesome murder of an Australian missionary and his two young sons in January.
In the first comment by the Vatican on the issue, a papal official said earlier this week that the Holy See was "sad and preoccupied with the continuing atrocities" against Christians in India.
A commentary published on Thursday by the Vatican newspaper Osservatore Romano and the Vatican news agency Fides went further. "Religious fundamentalism which spreads and mingles with nationalism in identifying Indian nationality with the Hindu religion is a phenomenon which is increasingly aggressive and disturbing," wrote Cardinal Jozef Tomko, head of the Congregation for Evangelisation.
Christian groups say the violence against their community increased after the BJP party, under Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, came to power at the head of a coalition in March 1998. Mr Vajpayee was sworn in for a second term two weeks ago following September-October general elections.
The Pope is due to leave India on Monday morning for the former Soviet republic of Georgia.