They are not exactly dancing in the dining halls of their convents, as a popular Hollywood film showed Catholic Nuns some years ago, albeit in an entirely different context. But there is a deep, if silent, beginning of hope that their prayers are being heard, by God high in his Heaven, and by Pope Francis, His representative on earth, at least for the 1.3 billion Catholics in the world. Of these, an estimated 20 million live in India, about 1.7 per cent of the national population. The total number of Christians in India has remained constant at about 2.3 % of the population since independence. India is home to almost every major denomination and liturgical Rites of the faith.
For Pope Francis himself, there is a sense of gratitude that physically tired and perhaps ailing though he may be, he has taken courage to strike a blow against patriarchy in the church, where it has held sway for a long as there has been organised Christianity. Future Popes will find it very difficult indeed to quell these hopes.