By Christine Mai-DucContact Reporter
Pope Francis and Indian Prime Minister Narendra
Modi both landed in the U.S. last week in
overlapping visits. They each lead a billion people
worldwide, and drew crowds, worship and controversy
while here. There were tears, talk about climate
change and the role of women. Still, a closer look
at their itineraries shows some key differences.
Obama welcomed the pope at the airport, hugged Modi at the
U.N. (Getty Images / Associated Press)
President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama greeted Pope
Francis at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on Tuesday,
breaking with White House protocol.
Obama greeted Modi with an embrace in a United Nations
hallway Monday morning, on Day 5 of Modi's five-day trip to
the United States. It was the fifth meeting between the two
world leaders in a year, according to an Indian government
spokesman.
The pope hung out with the homeless, abuse victims and
prisoners; Modi with Google, Facebook and Apple (Associated
Press)
Modi and Pope Francis had some meetings in common: Both spoke
to world leaders at the United Nations and met with President
Obama. But the similarities stopped there.
Modi, primarily focused on strengthening commercial ties,
rubbed shoulders with top tech executives such as Apple's Tim
Cook, Google CEO Sundar Pichai and Mark Zuckerberg at
Facebook.
Francis, on the other hand, took a detour to meet
with victims of sex abuse, turned down lunch with
leaders in Washington to dine with the homeless and
visited prisoners in Philadelphia and inner-city
students in East Harlem, New York. Francis also
addressed a joint meeting of Congress, the first
pontiff in history to do so.
1 million gathered to see the pope in Philadelphia; 18,000
showed up for Modi in California (Associated Press / Tribune
News Service)
Organizers estimated that about 1 million faithful would turn
out to see Francis celebrate Sunday Mass on the Benjamin
Franklin Parkway in Philadelphia. Days earlier, about 80,000
lottery winners lined Central Park in New York City to await
his arrival.
On Sunday, Modi spoke at a "town hall" event at the SAP
Center in San Jose, Calif., attended by an estimated 18,000
people, many of them Indian Americans.
Both men lead more than 1 billion people each worldwide.
There are an estimated 72 million U.S. Catholics, and more
than 2.8 million Indian Americans live in the U.S., according
to U.S. Census figures.
The pope skipped California while Modi rubbed elbows with
state and business leaders (European Pressphoto Agency)
Modi spent a good deal of his time in the U.S. on the West
Coast, meeting with California Gov. Jerry Brown in San Jose
on Sunday to discuss climate change as part of his swing
through the Golden State.
The pope, on the other hand, kept his travel to the East
Coast, even as he celebrated a Mass to canonize Father
Junipero Serra, who founded several of California's 21
missions and became the first saint canonized on U.S. soil.
(Over the weekend, just days after Serra was canonized,
vandals struck the Carmel Mission where the remains of the
missionary are buried, toppling statues and damaging
gravesites.)
On climate change, the pope quoted Martin Luther King Jr.,
while Modi went with Gandhi (AFP/Getty Images / European
Pressphoto Agency)
Both Francis and Modi invoked the names of peaceful leaders
in their discussions of climate change.
Quoting Mahatma Gandhi, whom he called "that towering
personality of our times," Modi said, "We must care, too, for
that future world that we ourselves will not be able to see."
Speaking at the United Nations Sustainable Development Summit
last week, Modi said that climate change must be a priority,
but that changes must be made with an eye to how they affect
the poor.
"When we speak of climate change, there is a hint, unspoken
or not, of safeguarding what we already have. But when we
speak of climate justice, then the responsibility of saving
the poor from the vagaries of climate is something that will
help us."
The pontiff also spoke about how climate change
affects the world's poorest, saying they "suffer
most from such offenses," and speaking of a "true
right of the environment."
"They are cast off by society, forced to live off
what is discarded and suffer unjustly from the
consequences of the abuse of the environment,"
Francis told the United Nations General Assembly.
"They are part of today's widespread and quietly
growing 'culture of waste.'"
The pope invoked the name of Martin Luther King, borrowing
words he spoke in his "I Have a Dream" speech. "We can say
that we have defaulted on a promissory note and now is the
time to honor it," the pope said.
The pope made John Boehner cry, while Mark Zuckerberg left
Modi in tears (Associated Press / Tribune News Service)
The pontiff's visit inspired many faithful to weep openly in
Mass and on the streets. Possibly the most prominent person
to be visibly moved during Francis' visit was outgoing House
Speaker John A. Boehner, who wiped away tears in the presence
of the Roman Catholic leader.
Modi, on the other hand, became emotional during a
question-and-answer session with Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg.
Responding to a personal question from Zuckerberg about the
influence of Modi's mother on his life, the prime minister's
voice cracked with emotion. "I came from a very poor family,"
he said. "When we were young, what we did to get by ... she
went to our neighbors’ houses nearby [to] clean dishes, fill
water, do hard chores. So you can imagine what a mother had
to do to raise her children."
Protesters dogged Modi on human rights record, while pope
fans successfully protested ... a tent (Associated Press)
A group of protesters gathered outside the SAP
Center in San Jose in anticipation of Modi's
speech. They held signs opposing the caste system
and violence against minorities, accusing Modi of
an "agenda of hate and greed." According to
reports, one group even sent Zuckerberg 250 bottles
of hand sanitizer, each with the name of a person
killed in the Gujarat riots of 2002, encouraging
the Facebook executive to "wash your hands" after
shaking Modi's. Outside the SAP Center, the critics
clashed with pro-Modi demonstrators who touted
signs in support of the Indian prime minister.
Despite some who protested the canonization of Junipero
Serra, who some said was responsible for enslaving Native
Americans and punished them with whips and chains, no
organized protests were present during the ceremony in
Washington. Aside from a small group that held signs reading,
"Pervert Pope" and "Catholic Priests Are Liars," few
protesters followed the pontiff during his U.S. tour.
Except those, of course, who banded together to protest a
tent. After a large white party tent was erected in front of
the stage where Francis was scheduled to celebrate his public
Sunday mass in Philadelphia, blocking the view of the anxious
crowd, the crowd began chanting, "Move that tent!" and "Take
it down!"
Hours later, after the outrage had drowned out singing and
spawned the Twitter hashtag #takeitdown, organizers finally
dismantled it.
On the role of women (AFP / Getty)
Asked about the role of women as Indian society grows, Modi
said, "If we want to achieve our economic goals, then we
cannot do that if we imprison 50% of our population inside
their homes." Modi spoke about the importance of educating
young girls in India, and his campaigns to encourage families
to send their daughters to school.
In a celebration at New York's St. Patrick's
Cathedral, Francis extended what was seen as a
partial olive branch to American nuns, who had been
accused by the previous pontiff of diverging from
the church's teachings. Francis called nuns "women
of strength, fighters, with that spirit of courage
which puts you in the front lines in the
proclamation of the Gospel." He added, "What would
the church be without you?" to much applause. But
the pope did not address how women could serve
greater or more significant roles in the church,
which some of his female followers have called for.
http://www.latimes.com/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-pope-modi-visit-20150928-htmlstory.html
