New Delhi, 30/10:Prime Minister Narendra Modi reached Vatican City on Saturday during his Italy tour. Here PM Modi met with Pope Francis. During this, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and National Defense Advisor Ajit Doval also accompanied him. This was the first face-to-face meeting of Pope Francis and PM Modi. Sources told News18 that 20 minutes had been fixed for the meeting between the two leaders but the meeting lasted for about an hour. During this, PM Modi and the Pope discussed many issues including Corona virus, eradication of poverty, climate change and bringing peace to the world.
During the conversation itself, Prime Minister Modi invited the Pope to visit India. After meeting Pope Francis, PM Modi tweeted, ‘Very warm meeting with Saint Pope Francis. I had the opportunity to discuss many issues with him. I also invited him to come to India.’ Earlier in the year 1999, Pope John Paul II had visited India. At that time the Prime Minister of India was Atal Bihari Bajpayee. Now PM Modi has invited Pope France. If he comes to India, he will become the first pope to come here in the last 22 years.
Ahead of the historic meeting, Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla had said on Friday that the Prime Minister would have a separate meeting with the Pope. During a press conference in Rome, he had said that delegation-level talks could take place after the meeting. Shringla had told that the Vatican has not set any agenda for the talks. He said, “I believe the tradition is that when there is a discussion with His Holiness (the Pope) there is no agenda and we respect that.” I am sure that during this time we will be involved in discussions on the global scenario in general and those issues which are important to us.