Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on June 22 met Pope Francis in the Vatican.
“It has been an absolute pleasure meeting His Holiness Pope Francis in Vatican City. Thanked him for the warm audience and wished him good health and long life,” Patnaik said on his social media post.
Daily Archives: June 30, 2022
NEW SUPERIOR GENERAL FOR ST PAULS
The XIth General Chapter of the Society of St Paul held at Ariccia, Italy, has elected Fr Domenico Soliman (56 years) as the next Superior General of the Congregation, and the 8th successor to Blessed James Alberione, its Founder and first Superior General. Fr Soliman was elected to the highest office of the Congregation on Wednesday, June 15, 2022.
Caritas India awarded with excellence awards
Caritas India, the social development arm of the Catholic bishops in India, has been awarded for its excellent work in humanitarian aid and disaster risk reduction, community health, climate-adaptive agriculture and food sovereignty.
Book on nuns’ valiant struggle against archdiocese released
A book on the unusual struggle of a group of Catholic nuns against an archdiocese and their congregation was launched June 26 during a virtual function.
The book, “My Prophetic Struggle, The Narakkal Story,’ written jointly by Carmelite Sister Annie Jaise and feminist theologian Kochurani Abraham, was released by Sister Elsa Muttathu, the national secretary of the Conference of Religious of India. The first copy was received by Jesuit Father T K John, a veteran theologian.
Nun who worked with street children murdered in Haiti
An Italian missionary who dedicated herself to working with street children in Haiti for more than 20 years, was murdered.
Sister Luisa Dell’Orto, a Little Sister of the Gospel of Saint Charles de Foucauld, was shot during a robbery attempt on June 25.
Indian Catholics slam silence over Nigerian massacre
Catholics in India have questioned the silence of the global community over the brutal mass killing of Christians in southwest Nigeria recently and want it to take a strong stand against such atrocities. Scores of Catholics belonging to the Catholic Congress based in Kerala state in southern India staged a rally in Kottayam district, a Christian stronghold, and condemned the massacre.On June 5, Pentecost Sunday, gunmen believed to be Islamic extremists associated with Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) entered St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church in Owo, Ondo state. They fired weapons, detonated explosives and killed at least 40 people, government agencies said. “We appeal to the global community to stand up against the mass murders in Nigeria,” said Catholic Congress president P.P. Joseph of Changanaserry Archdio-cese. “Unless the global conscious rises up against such murders, humanity will not survive in this world.”
Archbishop Joseph Perumthottam of Changanassery Archdiocese in Kerala wrote an editorial for Deepika (Light), a church-run daily, in Malayalam, the official language of the southern state.
“When it comes to the killing and persecution of Christians, certain media houses maintain silence. What sort of media ethics is this?” he wrote in a June 13 article.
The prelate claimed that in 2021 alone at least 6,000 Christians were slaughtered in Nigeria by Islamic terrorist groups such as Boko Haram among others. Since 2009, at least 40,000 Christians were killed by Boko Haram in Nigeria, he added.
The prelate also expressed concern over the spread of Islamic terror in other African countries and other parts of the world, noting that Christians are “the worst victims of persecution” and questioned why global powers could not protect human beings from the onslaught of Islamic terrorists.