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41 terrorists arrested over Surabaya church attacks

Jakarta Security Forces have arrested 41 suspected terrorists, linked to a series of bomb attacks in Surabaya, the capital of the province of East Java. Four others were killed during counter terrorist operations, reported local police chief Tito Karnavian last night to local media, adding that the victims had resisted arrest. “After the suicide bombings […]

Hindu leader in Nepal ‘faked assassination attempt’

A self-styled religious leader in Nepal linked to hard-line Hindu nationalists has been accused of faking an attempt on his life by instructing a bodyguard to shoot and wound him. Dinesh Pandit, 25, revered as “Acharya Shree Niwas” by Hindu devotees, was shot on April 8 in the country’s east shortly before he was scheduled […]

Why missionaries are targeted in India’s northeast

Over 25 years ago a gang of four men took me at gunpoint from a basket-ball court to my school office. They introduced themselves as members of a proscribed organization and made me sit on a chair while they kicked my face. That was the first attack I encountered on June 14, 1991, in my […]

Shillong violence: Christian leaders deny communal angle

The leaders of various Churches in north-eastern India have expressed deep pain and anguish at the recent violent incidents that shattered peace in Shillong, capital of Meghalaya State. Heads of the United Christian Forum and the North East Christian Council met on June 6 in Guwahati to review the situation and seek ways to restore […]

Constitution in danger, human rights trampled: Goa Archbishop

The Indian Constitution is in danger, Goa’s Archbishop Filipe Neri Ferrao has said, adding that a “new trend” of mono-culturalism, which demands uniformity in what and how one eats, dresses, lives and even worships, is putting human rights at risk. In the latest annual pastoral letter to Catholics in Goa, Ferrao also exhorted agencies of […]

Despite criticism, major superiors of India working for the country

The Conference of Religious India held a meeting in Chennai (Tamil Nadu) from 27 to 30 May. Participants agreed that, despite criticism of Christians, they will continue to work together for the good of the country. Speaking at the event, Msgr Theodore Mascarenhas, secretary general of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI), reiterated the […]

Pope Francis appoints two new bishops for India

The pontiff appointed Father Fulgence Aloysius Tigga as the new bishop of Raiganj in West Bengal state and Salesian Fr Dennis Panipitchai as the auxiliary of Miao in Arunachal Pradesh, according to a press release from the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India headquarters in New Delhi. Father Tigga, a priest of Bettiah diocese in Bihar, […]

Schonborn at odds with CDF statement on women priests

After CDF Prefect Luis Ladaria Ferrer SJ reaffirmed the impossibility of ordaining women in the Catholic Church, it has become clear that cardinal-elect Ladaria’s statements run counter to a position recently enunciated by Cardinal Christoph Schönborn. In an article in L’Osservatore Romano on 30 May, the Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the […]