Bigger India
State extends official invite to Pope Francis
In 1986, Pope John Paul II had visited Kerala as part of his India tour that lasted for 10 days and covered 14 cities.
Even as the Union government dilly-dallies in taking any decision on the request by the Catholic community in the country to extend an invite for Pope Francis so that he can visit India, the Kerala government has sent out a hearty invite to the Pope, urging him to visit the state, where there is a large chunk of Christian believers, at an earliest convenient date. As per 2011 census, 18.38% of the Kerala’s 3.34 crore population are Christians.