New Delhi/Thiruvananthapuram, Dec 25 (IANS): With Prime Minister Narendra Modi informing a group of 60 Christian leaders, including bishops, that a papal visit to India is on the cards, the stage seems set for the first visit by a Pope to the country after 1999, and possibly the first to Kerala after 1986.

On Christmas Day, Modi had a luncheon meeting with Christian leaders and said the papal visit will happen either in 2024 or 2025.

Incidentally, the then Pope, John Paul II, came to India twice -- first to Kerala in 1986 for two days to beatify Sister Alphonsa and Sister Kuriakose Elias Chavara, and visited Delhi next in November 1999.

On his 1986 visit, the Pope stayed both days in Kochi and from there he travelled to Thrissur and then to Kottayam and Thiruvananthapuram.

Christians in Kerala make up around 18 per cent percent of the state's 32 million population, of which Catholics are the dominant group, comprising 50 per cent of the Christians in the state. There are three Catholic rites in Kerala -- the Syro Malabar, Latin, and the Syro Malankara Churches.