New Delhi, India - India has summoned the Vatican envoy in Delhi in protest over comments by the Pope in which he condemned attempts to ban religious conversions.
India's junior Foreign Minister, Anand Sharma, told parliament on Tuesday that the envoy was told in "no uncertain terms" of India's disapproval.
The Pope criticised India last week for what he called "disturbing signs of religious intolerance".
India's main opposition party, the BJP, has already protested to the Vatican.
'Religious intolerance'
Pope Benedict XVI made the comments last week while talking to India's new Ambassador to the Vatican, Amitava Tripathi.
The pontiff criticised India for "disturbing signs of religious intolerance which have troubled some regions of India".
He specifically cited attempts by some Indian states to introduce legislation to ban what right-wing Hindus call "forced conversions".
India's foreign ministry has now reacted strongly to Monday's papal comments.
"India is a secular and democratic country, in which adherents of all religious faiths enjoy equal rights," said Junior Foreign Minister Anand Sharma.
Correspondents say that Mr Sharma made the comments in response to opposition criticism that India had not protested against the "grossly unwarranted" statement from Rome.
Rajnath Singh, the President of India's main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) wrote to the Pope on 20 May.
"My interference in your religious domain within the Vatican will be unwelcome, uncalled for and will be treated as interference in your religious management and administration," the letter said.
Earlier this month, the state governor of India's western state of Rajasthan refused to sign a contentious religious freedom bill, which would have banned people from being converted to religions "against their will".
Human rights agencies and minority groups also opposed the bill, saying it was introduced to appease radical Hindu groups.
But the BJP-led Rajasthan government, led by the BJP, said that the bill had been introduced to stop religious conversion by means of allurement, greed or pressure.
The BJP says that it supports legislation to ban "forced religious conversions", because many Christian missionaries recruit converts among the majority Hindu population using financial and educational enticements.
Christians make up just over two percent of India's 1.1 billion mainly Hindu population.