Chief Minister of Goa Pramod Pandurang Sawant joined government officials and civil service officers to celebrate Christmas at Pilar Pilgrim Centre in the western Indian state.
“Jesus came into the world to spread the message of peace, love and unity,” Sawant told the participants of the Festive Christmas High Tea on December 25 at the center, some 10 km southeast of Panaji, the state capital.
Sawant, an ayurveda medical practitioner serving as Goa’s eleventh chief minister since 2019 noted that “truth and service are two important messages in the Bible which tells us that service is the greatest form of love.”
The 50-year-old politician noted that harmony and unity has been Go’s identity. “In India, often there have been attempts to bring division among people on the basis of caste and religion, however, such attempts have been thwarted by the people of Goa. Since 1961, the rest of India sees Goa as the beacon of unity,” he added.
The host, Father Nazareth Fernandes, the superior general of the Society of Pilar, said that “Christmas is the celebration of peace, and Jesus the prince of peace, brings love, joy and peace from the Father.” He further said that “the Church becomes the visible face of Jesus Christ in her service to humankind.”
He also claimed that the members of the Pilar Society “are the visible face of Goans throughout India and abroad to carry the message of peace, harmony, joy and love that exists among Goans, although we may belong to different creeds.”