Mumbai (AsiaNews) John Dayal was among the first to send a comment to AsiaNews about the new Pope's mass. He is president of the All India Catholic Union, an organisation that represents India's 16 million Catholics and a leader in the struggle for human and religious rights in India and the world.
Dr Dayal watched Benedict XVI's inaugural mass on TV, "[b]ut TV is not the same thing as being there in St Peter's Square to bear witness and participate in the communion with Benedict XVI on the day that his ministry begins".
Dayal said that in the last few days some criticism of the new Pope has been aired in some Indian media.
"It was obvious that the press had to pick out this or that aspect of Card Ratzinger's youth and his work in the last decades, to criticise him. This Pope is not stuck in his past, but is rooted in the foundations of our faith, in the hope that comes from God, in universal fraternity, in peace and solidarity," Dayal said.
"In his reference to Jews," he went on to say, "he shows his love for other religions and to both believers and non believers offers the universality of God's love. The world is saved by He who was crucified, not by those who crucified him".
"Benedict XVI's pontificate has generated high expectations and hopes," said Dayal in ending his comment, "but these expectations are free of any anxiety that useless debates over conservatism and progressivism may cause".
