Cardinal Oswald Gracias said he thinks Pope Francis may not be able to visit India as planned at the end of 2017. The Archbishop of Bombay said that while he is optimistic the pope will visit India at some point in the future, discussions with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government about a visit this year have taken longer than expected.

“I am beginning to lose hope about 2017,” the cardinal, who was in Rome for a meeting of the Council of Cardinals on which he serves, said in an interview with NCR June 15. “We are already in June,” said Cardinal Gracias. “Even if suddenly they said, ‘Come,’ it is a pastoral visit … [and] will take several months for the dioceses to prepare the people.”

“It should not just be a flash in the pan, he comes and goes,” he continued, explaining that for Pope John Paul II’s visit to the country in 1999, the Indian bishops “planned for almost a year before he came to make it effective.”

During the half-hour conversation, Cardinal Gracias touched on a wide range of other topics including the Council of Cardinals’ desire to ensure lay people are consulted on bishops’ appointments and his hope that the Vatican will decentralize more authority to local bishops.

Francis first announced his intent to visit India in October 2016, saying in a press conference he was “quasi-sure” he would visit the country along with Bangladesh in 2017. Vatican officials are known to have been working on a visit for November or December, when temperatures in the region are normally coolest.

Should the India visit be postponed it would be the second expected papal visit for 2017 to be delayed, following the Vatican’s announcement May 30 that Francis will be unable to visit South Sudan this October as previously planned.

An inter-denominational Christian organization in northeast India has welcomed an ecumenical prayer initiative launched by a retired Catholic archbishop known for his relentless efforts for peace in the restive region.

Archbishop emeritus Thomas Menamparampil, of Guwahati (Assam state) and former apostolic administrator of Jowai (in Meghalaya state) has proposed a “special ecumenical prayer for peace and harmony among communities” at the start of each month, starting in August, by all Churches and friends, following an act of vandalism in the Catholic cathedral of Bongaigaon.

The initiative to calm tension in north-eastern India, one of the most restless regions of the country, has been enthusiastically welcomed by the United Christian Forum North East India (UCF NEI), a grouping of Christian, Catholic, Presbyterian and Baptist organizations.

Archbishop Menamparampil told Asianews that from August, the prayer that he composed would be recited throughout the region.

Church leaders have expressed solidarity with ethnic Gorkha people who are on an indefinite strike protesting for a separate homeland in the Darjeeling area of eastern India.

Since June 8 Darjeeling district in West Bengal state has witnessed violent clashes between local people and the police.

Street protests, stone throwing by the public as well as violence from both sides intensified since June 12 when the popular local organization Gorkha Janmukti Morcha called for an indefinite strike demanding for Gorkhaland — the creation of a separate homeland for ethic Gorkha people. At least three people have been killed in the violence so far.

“The church is not directly involved in the protest. But the church is with the people,” Bishop Stephen Lepcha of Darjeeling told ucanews.com explaining that local people are demanding for the right of self-governance as West Bengal state, under which the region falls, does not attend to the needs of local people.

“The problem arises here again because people do not see the government helping with any development in this hilly region. People suffer unemployment and poverty. The administration has failed miserably,” said Bishop Lepcha, a native of Darjeeling.

Outlawed fundamentalist groups have the support of political and religious leaders, and are not punished for violence against minorities. The economy excludes the most vulnerable groups in society. “Vegetarian terrorism” is unleashed against killing cattle. The retired abp Menamparampil said in an interview:

“The details of the incident are widely known. What we notice also in this case is a reco-gnizable pattern in the attack. The central area of worship is targeted, the holiest objects are dishonoured, the aim apparently is to publicly humiliate a minority community. The impression left behind, however, is one of robbery. No definite conclusions can be drawn. Officials put it to anti-social elements; they say that Hindu temples and Muslim masjids are also being robbed. What they do not say is that anti-social elements are being cultivated by fundamentalist groups, irresponsible politicians, and of late, even by corporations.

The police become helpless when lawless groups enjoy patronage from political ‘strong men’ or are linked with emotion-driven religious leaders. These groups are organized into senas and dals (armies and squads), brain-washed, and initiated into various forms of reckless social interventions, e.g. to act as moral police, or as self-appointed protectors of women, to defend cultural values, and humiliate minority communities. Assam seems to be free of such elements at this stage. But there is evidence that that groups may be under training.”