Pope Francis agrees to make first papal visit to India since 1999

Pope Francis meets with India's Prime Minister Modi at the Vatican. October 30, 2021. Vatican Media/Handout via REUTERS

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Francis has accepted an invitation from Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to visit, in a turnaround in relations with the Vatican following the failure of negotiations for a papal trip to the predominantly Hindu nation in 2017.

There are about 20 million Roman Catholics in India, about 1.5% of the population of 1.3 billion. Some 80% of India's people are Hindu.