16th Exposition Of St. Francis Xavier: About Faith, Commercialization And Cult Following

Panaji – The sixteenth public Exposition in Old Goa has succeeded in drawing thousands of pilgrims everyday, but, in recent times has attracted some unwanted attention too, with several members of the clergy harboring the view that the expositions serve only to to “commercialize devotion.”

The faction, prompted by this controversial view has caused consternation to the church authorities that have rubbished the claims.

Jesuit priest, Fr. Moreno D’Souza, has a number of books on Francis Xavier to his credit and is considered an authority on the subject. The ageing priest, who is attached to the Basilica of Bom Jesus at Old Goa, believes that relics such as these should be left to public viewing permanently, and not exposed with so much fanfare just once every 10 years.

Decennial expositions only help “commercialize” religion, he argued, pointing out that remains of eight saints, with their faces masked, are left to regular public veneration across Europe.

Incidentally, criticism that an event of the scale of the exposition (the present one is expected to draw three million devotees and tourists over a period of 43 days) could be easily exploited by commercial interests has worried the church in the past as well.

“We have deliberated on these matters at different levels within the church and concluded that having the exposition every 10th year is necessary to deepen the spiritual experience. It brings together a large gathering of the flock and exposes it to different dimensions of faith,” countered Fr. Olavo Velho Pereira, spokesman for the Goa church, dismissing the criticism as the view of a few dissidents.

Fr Pereira says the church can do little if the event is used to promote tourism. “Every feast has its fair, what can we do about it?” he asks, stressing that the exposition is not a “tourist” event but an opportunity to “strengthen faith.”

Faith indeed, for this is the sixteenth public exposition of the Catholic missionary’s relics since his body was brought to Old Goa 450 years ago in 1554, and the question often raised is, why has the devotion survived and even grown? More curiously, why does the Xavier cult cut across faiths?