On Saturday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi met with Pope Francis in a “very warm meeting” and invited him to visit India. According to the meeting’s contents, the discussion was only supposed to last 20 minutes but ended up lasting an hour, during which they discussed a wide range of topics, including climate change and poverty.

Had a very warm meeting with Pope Francis. I had the opportunity to discuss a wide range of issues with him and also invited him to visit India. @Pontifex, tweeted PM Narendra Modi

Earlier in the year 1999, Pope John Paul II had visited India. Atal Bihari Vajpayee was the Prime Minister of the country during that time. 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.

PM Modi made a visit to Pope Francis ahead of Italy’s hosting of the G20 Summit. External affairs minister S Jaishankar and national security adviser Ajit Doval joined the prime minister. He also met Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican City State’s Secretary of State.

Harsh Vardhan Shringla, India’s foreign secretary, said on Friday that the Vatican had not set an agenda for the meeting since it is customary not to have one when addressing matters with the Pope, and that India will respect that.

The 16th summit of the G-20 is being held in Italy. PM Narendra Modi has reached Italy to participate in this conference. He will then visit Glasgow, the UK on 1 and 2 November at the invitation of British Prime Minister Boris Johnson. There they will discuss ways to take their relationship forward. This is the first foreign visit of PM Modi in the last two years after the outbreak of Corona pandemic.