MUMBAI, India – Cardinal Oswald Gracias, who recently visited Turin, prayed before the Shroud for the Church of India. 'I asked God that His suffering bring peace to the whole country and the Archdiocese of Bombay, and that the Gospel be announced in every corner of our earth.'
The archbishop of Mumbai reported that his closeness to the Shroud was a profound and intense spiritual experience. He prayed 'before the most precious relic we have' so that 'through the passion of Christ, the Church in India, in such times of difficulties and persecution, can continue to bear witness to the Gospel'.
India has a population of almost 2 billion people of whom, taking the sub-Continent as a whole, 17,005,000 or 1.55% are Catholics.
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