Chief Minister Pramod Sawant during the run up to the Lok Sabha elections and keeping an eye on the voters of South Goa had said in March that his government would request the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) to invite Pope Francis, the head of the global Catholic church, to visit the state for the decennial Exposition of the sacred relics of St Francis Xavier to be held between November and January this year. In fact, Sawant was later seen creating a big hype through the local media in June and even claiming that he has already sent a request to PMO to invite Pope Francis to Goa during the upcoming Exposition of St Francis Xavier at Old Goa. Unfortunately, it has come to light now that Pope Francis will not be visiting India any time soon. Which means that Sawant was lying all this while with regards to the Pope's visit. I think that CM should tender an apology for unnecessarily exciting our Catholic community all this while by simply talking/promising of getting Pope Francis during the upcoming Exposition of St Francis Xavier this year.
