Extending a welcoming hand to the newly elected Pontiff, Francis I, the Goa BJP has said that it would be only too glad to welcome the Pope if he accepts an invitation of the Goa Archdiocese.
legislators of the Right Wing party, which came to power with support from the State’s 30 per cent Roman Catholic religious minority have already asked the Government and party leadership to extend an invitation to the Pope.
“Of course we want the Pope to come. We will be proud to have him here,” Goa BJP vice-president Wilfred Mesquita said.
The invitation is being extended for the worldwide leader of Catholics to pay a visit for the exposition of the sacred relics of 16th century Spanish missionary saint Francis Xavier, one of the founding members of the Jesuits, to which Pope Francis belongs.
Mesquita said that the party would not only be happy to welcome, him but would press with the Goa Archdiocese to ensure that the Pope is invited.
“The invitation has to be formally extended by the Goa Archdiocese. We will be lobbying with the Church to make sure they will invite Pope Francis,” the vice president said.
Every 10 years, the body remains of the missionary saint are lowered from the silver casket in which they are permanently stored for a view by the faithful.
Earlier the body was on permanent display, however after church authorities noticed deterioration of the corpse which was for nearly two centuries miraculously incorruptible, they decided to have it viewed only once every 10 years.
Xavier, who hailed from Navarra, in the Basque region of Spain was sent as an Apostolic Nuncio by the Pope in 1541 at the request of the King of Portugal, who explorers led by Afonso de Albuquerque had captured the city of Goa trading post a couple of decades earlier.
Xavier was incidentally also responsible initiating the process for the Spanish Inquisition in Goa, which saw tenets of the Christian religion imposed by force and violence on Goan subjects.
After his death in 1552 in Shanchuan, China, his body was first ferried to Malacca in Portugal and later stored in 1553 and in 1637 placed in the newly built Basilica of Bom Jesus, built by the Jesuits.