The Pope is probably one of the first high-profile visitors to be received by the new government, and it looks like New Delhi is being ultra-careful about not leaving any loose ends long before the trip actually begins on November 5.

If, as the exit polls say, the NDA returns to power, the BJP-led Government is especially sensitive that the Papal visit goes off without a hitch. John Paul will deliver a public mass on November 7 at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, and even though the day happens to coincide with Diwali, the Government did not once murmur about there being any possible clash with the ``Hindu'' festival. In fact, in the light of the attacks against Christian missionaries earlier this year, the Government is going out of its way toensure that the visit goes off perfectly. Certainly, the NDA will hope that the Papal visit will underline its ``secular'' credentials.

RSS chief Rajju Bhaiya is believed to have warned the Pope that he better not talk about ``Hindu conversions'' during his visit, otherwise the RSS will oppose it, but the Government is desperately keen that the Hindu-Christian controversy doesn't mar the trip. John Paul arrives in the capital on November 5. He meets President K R Narayanan on November 6, after which he goes to Rajghat. Vice-President Krishan Kant is expected to call on him that day. Besides the public mass on November 7, he will head a Asian Bishops Synod before flying to Georgia on November 8.

The ``Pope-mobile,''a Sacra Citta Del-Six (SCV-6) model, considered the ``safest vehicle of earth'' is usually used by the Pope during his visits abroad. The advance team that coordinated the visit about a month ago asked New Delhi if they had a similar ``safe'' vehicle for the Pope. Since there wasn't, it wasagreed that the Pope-mobile be imported from the Vatican in Rome. The fully automatic vehicle, which weighs nearly three-and-a-quarter tonnes, will be used three times by John Paul II during his four-day visit to the country. The Pope sits on a high chair fully enclosed by bulletproof glass. He switched over to the vehicle after an assassination attempt in Turkey during the 1970s.