On the sidelines of the Outreach session of the G7 Summit held in Apulia, southern Italy, Prime Minister Narendra Modi invited Pope Francis to visit India after their warm meeting. Amid talks on Artificial Intelligence, Energy, Africa, and the Mediterranean, Modi referred to his admiration for the pontiff's commitment to the cause of global welfare.
"Met Pope Francis on the sidelines of the @G7 Summit. I admire the commitment of His Holiness to serve people and improve our planet. Also invited him to visit India," Modi posted on social media.
The Meeting is being seen as another important diplomatic outreach as Modi has been trying to reach out to the Christian community, particularly ahead of the general elections to be held in India. Pope Francis and moving around in a wheelchair, showed his light moments with Modi and other leaders present from across the world at Borgo Egnazia.
Addressing the Outreach session at the summit, Pope Francis said all must share responsibility to deploy Artificial Intelligence to serve everyone. Italian Prime Minister Georgia Meloni had convened the session in which interactions with leaders from the Global South also took place.
This is a follow-up of a prior private audience between Modi and Pope Francis that took place at Vatican Apostolic Palace in October 2021; the meeting discussed various global challenges, such as the COVID-19 pandemic and climate change. Modi had counted the efforts taken up by India on both these issues, such as large-scale vaccination drives and climate initiatives.
India and The Holy See have enjoyed warm relations ever since the two established diplomatic relations in 1948. As the country with the second-largest Catholic population in Asia, expectations arevident that a papal visit may take place next year.
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