The head of the Catholic Church in India on March 20 urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to invite Pope Francis to visit the country. “The Prime Minister reacted positively to this desire of the whole Catholic community,” Cardinal Oswald Gracias, president of Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI), told media persons after his meeting with Modi.

The Cardinal, one of the eight top advisors of Pope Francis, was elected the CBCI president, during the biennial plenary of the conference in early February at Bengaluru. This was his first meeting with the Prime Minister in his new capacity.

Cardinal Gracias described the meeting was “open, cordial and frank” and it helped the two leaders to know each other better.

The Cardinal had a one-to-one session with the Prime Minister, said Monsignor Joseph Chinnayyan, CBCI deputy secretary general, who accompanied the Cardinal. “This was the first time a Church leader has such meeting with the Prime Minister. Normally, we meet the Prime Minister or the president in groups,” he added.

The Prime Minister promised to find a suitable time slot for the Pope’s visit as scores of world leaders plan to visit India this year.

Pope Francis had expressed his desire to visit India several times last year. He repeated it in March when a minister from Kerala called on the Pope.

Cardinal Gracias also brought to the Prime Minister’s attention the growing anxiety among Christians over “sporadic attacks on minority institutions and personnel in different parts of the country.” “We are small community but our contribution to nation building is between 15 to 20%” the Cardinal repeated what he told the preminer.