The growth of Christianity in China and the fight against poverty in India were among several topics addressed during a day of prayer presided over by Pope Benedict XVI and more than 130 cardinals yesterday.

The meeting came ahead of today’s consistory, where Pope Benedict was expected to create 22 new cardinals including India’s Syro-Malabar Archbishop George Alencherry and Hong Kong’s Bishop John Tong Hon.

Some 27 cardinals spoke during yesterday’s meeting, according to a statement released by Vatican spokesman Fr Federico Lombardi, in which they addressed the challenges facing the Church in its mission to spread the Gospel in the modern world.

New York Archbishop Timothy Dolan said spreading the faith in an increasingly secularized world must be “accomplished with a smile, not a frown.”

Pope Benedict said in yesterday’s meeting that the Second Vatican Council would be vital in “rediscovering Jesus and the faith as something contemporary.”