The meeting was held in the house in Bombay. As the world's press waited breathlessly outside, the two talked long into the night.

The next day, Jason declared the meeting "a smashing success". He decried torture, slavery, and inadequite prison conditions.

A sullen Pope said the meeting went "as well as [can] be expected, under the circumstances". Vatican sources would only say that they had hoped for "more progress on real human rights reforms".