The remote east Indian state of Orissa, historically a tinderbox of Hindu-Christian tensions, erupted in violence this week after gunmen killed a Hindu leader and mobs burned churches in retaliation.
Four days of communal clashes left at least nine people dead. Authorities have imposed a curfew and ordered security forces to shoot violators on sight.
Pope Benedict XVI "firmly condemned" the fighting and urged the state's residents to "re-establish with the members of the various communities the peaceful cohabitation and the harmony that has always been the distinctive mark of the Indian society." 
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CNN's Melissa Gray in London and Bharati Naik in New Delhi contributed to this report.
