National

PM to help sort out Kerala church issues

With differences between Orthodox and Jacobite factions in widening, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will talk to both groups to find a lasting solution to some issues, said Mizoram Governor P S Sreedharan Pillai. The governor, also hailing from Kerala, said he had briefed the Prime Minister about all issues and sought his intervention to help […]

Dalit Christians hold protest march in southern India

Dalit Christians in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu have held a protest in march against discrimination faced by Dalits in 45 Catholic parishes of Pondicherry-Cuddalore Arch diocese. Protesters submitted a memorandum to parish priests on Dec. 20 and requested them to forward it to Archbishop Giambattista Diquattro, India’s apostolic nuncio. “The memorandum contains Dalit Christians’ long-standing common […]

Meat issue: Goa Church writes to chief minister

The Church in Goa has urged the state chief minister to urgently intervene to resolve meat shortage that has severely affected people’s protein intake and tourism industry. The Council for Social Justice and Peace (CSJP) wrote to Pramod Sawant that the western Indian state started experiencing the shortage after neighboring Karnataka State passed a bill […]

YOUCAT India gets new national director

The Conference of Catholic Bishops of India has appointed Maria Francis from the Archdiocese of Bangalore as the new national director of YOUCAT India. She will coordinate the ministries of the Youcat India Missionary Movement and will guide its members in India. Youcat, short for Youth Catechism of the Catholic Church, also styled as YOUCAT, […]

A bleak winter for the Church in India

The Church in India has never been under such stress as in the Christmas season of 2020. Starved of finances under a harsh law that regulates inter-national donations and the near absence of worshippers in the Covid-19 curfew, the Church cutting across denominations is pummelled by accusations from political foes and the seething anger of […]

6-year-old Dalit child raped and murdered in magic ritual

A 6-year-old Dalit girl has been found dead in Kampur (Uttar Pradesh). The little girl had disappeared on the eve of the Deepavali festival (last November 15) from the Ghatampur area. She was found with signs of torture, rape, with an open ribcage and stolen lungs. Police say the little girl’s lungs were removed to […]

Christian marriage registrations halted in Mumbai after officer’s retirement

The registration of Christian marriages in Mumbai has come to a halt after the retirement of the marriage officer in July. Amid the Covid-19 pandemic, newlywed couples are forced to travel to Pune to get their marri-age certificates stamped by state government authorities. Activists Godfrey Pimenta and Nicholas Almeida of the Watchdog Foundation have urged […]

India escapes US watch list, Pak sanctions on religious freedom issues

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s intervention led to Pakistan escaping sanctions for lack of religious freedom and India stopped from being listed on a Special Watch List, said US Ambassador-at-Large for Inter-national Religious Freedom, Samuel Brownback. “There were several reco-mmendations that the Secretary [Pomoeo] did not follow, and this was one of them,” he […]

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Pope: Red Cross’ humanitarian work shows that fraternity is possible

New Vatican document lists ‘grave violations’ of human dignity