 "(File) In this October 30, 2021 photo, Pope Francis with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Vatican City. Francis passed away on Monday, April 21, 2025. PTI")
When Pope Francis appeared on the balcony of St Peter’s Basilica on Easter Sunday 2025, few knew it would be his final public act. The 88-year-old pontiff, frail yet determined, offered a blessing to thousands in the square below, his voice gentle, his presence commanding.
It was from the same loggia where he had first been introduced to the world in 2013 as the 266th pope. Just one day later, the Vatican announced that Francis had passed away at 7.35 am, April 21, 2025 at his residence in the Domus Santa Marta, following complications from double pneumonia.
Cardinal Kevin Ferrell, the Vatican’s camerlengo, delivered the sombre message: the Bishop of Rome had “returned to the home of the Father.” Church bells tolled across Rome as the faithful mourned the passing of a pope who had reshaped the global Church with his humility, progressive views and outspoken stance on social justice.
A journey that never happened
His death also marked the quiet end of a long-anticipated journey — a papal visit to India that had been talked about for nearly a decade, hoped for by millions, and, in the end, postponed indefinitely. It was a visit that would never happen.
Back in 2016, Pope Francis had voiced near certainty that he would visit India alongside Bangladesh the following year. However, Church officials cited scheduling problems for Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Pope Francis travelled instead to Myanmar and Bangladesh in 2017.
The invitation that revived hope
It wasn’t until October 2021, during the G20 summit in Rome, that things finally began to shift. Prime Minister Modi and Pope Francis met face-to-face — the first such meeting between an Indian prime minister and a pope in over 20 years. Modi described the encounter as “very warm,” noting that he had discussed a wide range of issues with the pontiff and formally invited him to visit India.
The Ministry of External Affairs confirmed the invitation adding that the Pope had “accepted with pleasure”. The Vatican offered no detailed statement but acknowledged the meeting. At that time, it seemed the Church’s long wait might finally end.
Hopes rise and stall again
By late 2024, momentum appeared to be building. Union Minister of State for Minority Affairs George Kurian, speaking from the Vatican while attending the elevation of Kerala’s Monsignor George Jacob Koovakad to cardinal reiterated that India had officially invited Pope Francis, the PTI reported. He added that the visit would take place “as per the convenience of the Pope”, and that both Prime Minister Modi and the Christian community were eagerly awaiting it.
Yet, the Vatican had other priorities. The year 2025 was declared the “Jubilee Year” — a major event in the Catholic calendar marking the birth of Jesus Christ. According to Kurian, the Holy See made it clear that the Pope would be deeply engaged with internal Church events during this period. The visit to India, therefore, would have to wait until sometime after the Jubilee celebrations.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsAccording to a PTI report, Goa minister Mauvin Godinho echoed this hope stating that the Pope was likely to visit India “sooner than expected,” after another warm encounter between Modi and Francis at the G7 Outreach session in Apulia, Italy, in June 2024. Yet with the Pope’s health quietly deteriorating, those words would soon take on a different shade.
A legacy without a pilgrimage
Francis’s passing now leaves Indian Catholics reflecting on a missed encounter with a spiritual leader they admired deeply.
His potential presence in places like Kochi, Goa, or even New Delhi would have been historic — a continuation of the legacy begun by John Paul II during his visit to India in 1999. That earlier papal trip had culminated in the publication of a key Church document on Christianity in Asia and it had left a lasting impression on India’s Christian minority.
Francis, too, had the vision to leave a similar legacy. Known for his critiques of unbridled capitalism, his passion for climate justice and his compassion for the marginalised, the Pope had extended his arms to the Global South more than most of his predecessors. That he never set foot in India — home to more than 20 million Roman Catholics — now reads as a striking absence in an otherwise expansive papacy.
The visit that might still come
With Pope Francis’s death, the possibility of that long-awaited visit has now passed. But the door may not be closed forever. As the Catholic Church prepares to elect his successor, the question of India may return to the forefront. Will the next pope make the journey that Francis could not? We wait for the time to answer this question.