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Conversion is also an act of god: Archbishop

The president of the Catholic Bishops Conference of India Alan de Lastic today challenged the demands made from certain quarters for a papal apology on the Inquisition in Goa centuries ago saying ''this could not be treated as Inquisition in Europe.''

''Alexander the Great had attacked India. Will now anyone go ask for an apology from Greece or Macedonia?'' Reverend de Lastic replied to a question after his statement on the eve of the arrival of Pope John Paul II in India.

''It was the Portugese government which was in charge in Goa and the church had little role in the alleged inquisition,'' he explained.

In his statement, Rev de Lastic who is the Archbishop of Delhi, expressed unhappiness over the ''deliberate manner in which a small minority of people have sought to vitiate the atmosphere.'' ''We do caution that unless society at large devises systems so that marginal elements do not hijack the main voice of the community, hard earned communal amity and unity would be imperilled,'' he said.

In an apparent reference to the allegations of ''forced conversions'' made by some organisations, the archbishop said, ''We also hold that no one can stop anyone whose heart directs him to follow a particular faith or creed. Conversion is also an act of god.''

Tight security arrangements had been made for the Pope and all venues to be visited by him thoroughly sanitised. Regarding the rejection of the bullet-proof shield by the church leaders for the papal high mass to be held in Jawaharlal Nehru stadium on November 7, the CBCI spokesperson Dominic Emmanuel explained that the shield would have meant ''going against the nature of spiritual worship.'' ''We wanted the Pope to be fully exposed to the people who will throng the venue,'' he said.

In reply to a query, Archbishop de Lastic said the beatification of Mother Teresa was likely next year. ''There is no likelihood of the beatification of Mother Teresa during the Pope's visit to India,'' he said, thereby dispelling speculation on the issue.

UNI

The Pope's Visit

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