Pope Francis's visit to India, which was planned for October this year, is likely to be postponed to next year.
Discussions with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government about pope's visit this year have taken longer than expected said Cardinal Oswald Gracias, Archbishop of Bombay, according to Vatican Radio.
"I am beginning to lose hope about 2017," said the cardinal who is the president of both the Latin-rite bishops' group, the Conference of Catholic Bishops of India (CCBI), as well as the Federation of Asian Bishops' Conferences (FABC).
Preparations for pontiff's visit will take several months. Even though decisions can be made quickly, the dioceses will take time to prepare the people.
"It should not just be a flash in the pan, he comes and goes," said Card. Gracias.
During the visit of Pope St John Paul II to India in 1999 the event was planned for almost a year before he came to make it effective.
Pope Francis first mentioned about a possible visit to India and Bangladesh in 2017 during an in-flight press conference on October 2, 2016, while returning from a visit to Azerbaijan. Again the Pope spoke about his visit to India and Bangladesh, in an interview to German weekly Die Zeit in March.
Card. Gracias told that working with Modi government to prepare the papal visit has been "a little bit of a difficult situation" as the PM's schedule has been tightened up with state visits from other leaders.
