PM Modi calls on Pope Francis in Vatican

Team Udayavani, Oct 30, 2021, 2:22 PM IST

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday called on Pope Francis at the Vatican and discussed with him issues covering a range of areas of interest, including Covid-19, general global perspectives and maintaining peace and tranquility.

It is the first-ever one-to-one meeting between Prime Minister Modi and Pope Francis, the head of the Catholic Church. Sources said that the meeting between PM Modi and Pope Francis was scheduled only for 20 minutes but went on for an hour

Modi is also the first Indian Prime Minister Francis has met since becoming Pope in 2013.

At the Vatican, Modi was accompanied by National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar.

The Prime Minister also met Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Secretary of State of the Vatican City State.

Ahead of the historic meeting, Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla on Friday said that the Prime Minister will have a separate meeting with the Pope. “He will be meeting his holiness on a one-to-one basis,” he said during a press conference in Rome.