| New Delhi (Fides Service) - “No State, no group has the right to control either directly or indirectly a person’s religious convictions, nor can it justifiably claim the right to impose or impede the public profession and practice of religion, or the respectful appeal of a particular religion to people’s free conscience.” Pope John Paul II said this in his address to leaders of different religions during his apostolic visit to India in November 1999 to promulgate the post synodal Exhortation Ecclesia in Asia, fruit of the Special Synod of Bishops for Asia. These words are more than ever valid today in the present situation in India where some states, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu have approved an anti-conversion bill which subjects to the ruling of a magistrate the right of an individual to change religion. PA (Fides Service 28/5/2003 EM lines 17 Words: 181)
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