Word: pontiff
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...neighborhood of Kalighat was the high point of the first phase of the Pope's ten-day, 14- city tour of India, which ends this week. Although John Paul was treated with respect and courtesy at every turn, the reception was often unmistakably cool. Tight security measures cramped the Pontiff's usual hand-pressing style, but police cordons could not wholly explain the disappointing turnout at stops along his route. Indian political and non-Christian religious leaders sometimes strained to put a distance between themselves and the spiritual leader of the Roman Catholic Church, whose travel plans had stirred...
...Pontiff, however, was braced for one of the greatest challenges of his seven-year papacy. India's Catholic population accounts for only 12 million, or just 1.7%, of the country's 746 million people. Moreover, in recent weeks conservative Hindus had been warning that the Pope planned to use his trip to convert 200,000 Hindus to Christianity. The agitation peaked on Jan. 12, when 22 Hindu organizations rallied 50,000 demonstrators in Trivandrum, India's southernmost city. Last week's protest activities were kept tightly in check by police...
...Delhi, the Pontiff met for 20 minutes with the Dalai Lama, the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader. The brightest moment seemed to be a visit to the sacred shrine of Rajghat. There, at the black marble slab that marks the spot where Mahatma Gandhi's remains were cremated, the Pope paid glowing tribute to India's apostle of nonviolence...
...next stop, Calcutta, energized the Pope. Thousands lined the street to cheer his passing bulletproof "Popemobile." The Pontiff received an ebullient welcome from Mother Teresa, the 1979 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, who said, "This is the happiest day of my life...
From the slums of Calcutta, the Pope journeyed northeast to the scenic hills of Shillong, where 19th century missionaries found ready converts among the territory's tribes. Some 100,000 people attended a Mass and, to the Pontiff's obvious delight, members of the Konyak tribe danced and brandished their daos, the flat-ended machetes that until 1967 were used by the clan to behead enemies...