Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant expressed hope that Pope Francis will visit Goa during his India tour. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had extended invite to the Pope when they met during the recent G7 Summit.
Sawant tweeted, “Hon'ble Prime Minister Shri @narendramodiJi met HH Pope Francis @Pontifex on the sidelines of G7 Summit in Italy. Hon'ble PM admired his commitment to serve the people and extended an invitation to Pope to visit Bharat, and we hope the visit includes Goa.”
A few months back, Sawant had said that the state government would be inviting Pope Francis for the decennial exposition of the relics of St Francis Xavier at Old Goa, scheduled to be held during later part of the year. Christians constitute around 27 per cent of Goa's total population.
Modi met Pope Francis on the sidelines of the G7 Summit in Italy and said he had extended an invite to the Pope to visit India. Modi tweeted, “Met Pope Francis on the sidelines of the @G7Summit. I admire his commitment to serve people and make our planet better. Also invited him to visit India.”
-with inputs from agencies.