Dec. 2, 1964 - Pope Paul VI (left with Zakir Hussain, Vice President of India), coming farther east than any other Pope, received a great welcome in India today. A million Indians — Hindus, Moslems, Sikhs, Parsees, and Christians — greeted him with smiles and cries of “welcome” and “Jai Hind” (Hail India) when he landed at Santa Cruz Airport and as he drove the 20 miles into Bombay, “the gateway to India.”
There was no indication of anything but friendliness for the “burra guru” (great holy man) of the Christians, though far fewer than half of those who greeted him were men and women of his own faith. Experienced observers of the Indian scene said they had never encountered such a demonstration of popular feeling except at the funeral of Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru in Delhi last May. They reported that the welcome markedly exceeded that received in Bombay by Nikita Khrushchev, another figure held in popular esteem here.
When his Air India jet came to a halt on the runway shortly before 5:30 P.M. after a 4,000-mile flight from Rome via Beirut, the Pope was the first to emerge. He wore a white cassock, red cape, and white skullcap. He saluted the crowds with folded hands before his chest — the Western sign of prayer that to Indians means “namaste,” or “I salute you.”
Valerian Cardinal Gracias, Archbishop of Bombay, and Gregory Peter XV Cardinal Agagianian, papal legate to the Eucharistic Congress, mounted the ramp to bow to the Pontiff and then embrace him.
Leaders of secular India were at the foot of the ramp to greet the Pontiff, who is also temporal ruler of the Vatican, though he is not here in that capacity.
In a brief speech from a red-carpeted platform at the edge of the runway, Pope Paul declared:
“We come as a pilgrim, a pilgrim of peace, of joy, of serenity and love. We greet all the Indian people, every man, woman, and child, and we extend our greeting to all nations of Asia, to every nation in the world.
“May they always remember that all men are brothers under the fatherhood of the Divinity. May they learn to love one another, to respect one another, to avoid violating the natural rights of others. May they ever strive to respect these rights in truth, in justice, and in love.”
These comments were interpreted as an oblique condemnation of the Chinese Communist incursion into India two years ago and as support for India’s position that her rights have been violated.
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