India's Catholic clergy said on Monday that they welcomed the pope's condemnation of violence against the country's Christian minority, while Hindu nationalist politicians accused the Vatican of interfering.During a mass held Sunday to canonise India's first woman saint, Pope Benedict XVI invited prayers for Christians suffering persecution in India and Iraq, and urged the perpetrators to renounce such acts of violence.
"The pope's comments draw international attention to the problems of a minority which cannot defend itself on its own," said Father Dominic Emmanuel, spokesman for the Delhi Catholic Archdiocese.
About 2.3 percent of India's billion-plus population is Christian.
Attacks by Hindu extremists on Christians in the eastern state of Orissa have left 35 people dead since August and resulted in numerous churches being burned to the ground.
Hardline Hindu groups have long accused missionaries of bribing poor tribes people and low-caste Hindus to convert to Christianity by offering free education and health care.
Pope Benedict's comments drew an angry reaction from India's main opposition party, the Hindu nationalist BJP, which warned the pontiff against interfering in India's internal affairs.
"India is a sovereign country and I do not think any religious head should say anything," said BJP spokeswoman Sushma Swaraj.
That reaction was swiftly rejected by the Archbishop of Orissa, Raphael Cheenath.
"The pope has got every right to speak for those of us hit by violence of the worst kind," Cheenath said. "His words were a great consolation to the suffering Christians in Orissa and elsewhere in India.
Father Thomas Sequeira, the director of the Catholic Bishops Conference of India, said the pontiff's comments were "very appropriate and proper."
"We stand by what the pope said. We don't care what others may say," Sequeira said.
The issue of anti-Christian violence was also addressed Monday by Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in a speech to state chief ministers that warned of deepening ethnic and religious tensions.
"There are clashes between Hindus, Christians, Muslims and tribal groups," Singh said, adding that an "atmosphere of hatred and violence is being artificially generated."
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(Source: AFP)