Christian leaders in central Indian Madhya Pradesh state have urged the government to dispel fears among people before disposing of hazardous waste from the four-decades-old Bhopal industrial disaster. The appeal was made after two people set themselves on fire on Jan. 3 in protests. Protests erupted after authorities moved hundreds of tonnes of toxic waste from the site of the world’s deadliest industrial disaster in the state capital, Bhopal. The 337 tonnes of waste–sealed inside containers–were ferried in a long convoy of trucks over-night on Jan. 1, with a police escort, to Pithampur town, about 220 kilometres away. “We want safe disposal of toxic waste from the site of Union Carbide Corporation. It should not risk the life of people,” said Jerry Paul, national president of the Sarva Isai Mahasabha (All Christian Federation) based in Bhopal. Paul and his family are survivors of the chemical leak that killed some 3,500 people in its immediate aftermath in December 1984. For decades, local people have blamed the toxic gas leak for a high level of sickness due to groundwater contamination caused by the poisonous gas leak. Overall, 25,000 people are estimated to have died so far, according to activists helping the survivors cope with the tragedy.

Christian leaders in the central Indian Chhattisgarh state say police have regi-stered their complaint against a state legislative member following four months of persuasion after the politician allegedly in-sulted Jesus Christ. State police registered the complaint by Chhattisgarh’s Christian Forum against legislative member Raymuni Bhagat on Jan. 7. Forum president Arun Pannalal said the police acted after refusing to accept the complaint since Septem-ber. “We are satisfied with the development as we ran from pillar to post to register our complaint,” Pannalal said. He added the administration was favouring the culprit by not registering the complaint. Pannalal told on Jan. 8 that police were forced to accept the complaint following the intervention of the local court. Bhagat, a member of the Hindu-leaning Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), is accused of making remarks denigrating Christianity in a programme organized in Dhengni village on Sept 1. Bhagat, who represents the Jashpur constituency, made fun of Jesus Christ, saying: “Christ was nailed to the cross…he couldn’t remove the nails, how do you expect Christ will remove your problems.”

Catholic bishops of the Eastern rite Syro-Malabar Church have opposed changes to the forest law in southern Kerala state, saying the move could harm farmers amid a rising man-animal conflict. The Communist-led government has proposed amending the Kerala Forest Act of 1961 purportedly to suit current social needs and help better forest conservation. The amendments “will adversely affect the farmers living in the periphery of the forests,” the bishops said in a statement on Jan. 8 during their synod. The five-day synod, the supreme decision-making body of this Eastern Rite Church, began Jan. 6. It is attended by 54 serving and retired bishops at Mount St Thomas, the Church’s headquarters in the Ernakulam district. “Prima facie, the changes look more harmful to humanity instead of being human friendly,” the bishops said, urging the state government to “clear the anxiety of the people over its move.” The statement said the prelates held extensive discussions over the proposed changes. It expressed concern over granting forest officials more powers to arrest or detain individuals without a warrant and search the premises or vehicles of anyone based on mere suspicion.

A district authority in Maharashtra state in western India has been ordered to take back land encroached upon by a state minister and designate it as a multi-faith burial ground as per a directive the authority made eight years ago. Last week, the Bombay High Court ordered the Thane Municipal Corporation “to secure the land from illegal encroachment.” The court also asked for a status report by Feb.12 on the land’s readiness to be used as a burial ground for faith groups, including Chri-stians. The Thane district administration, through a government notification in November 2016, allotted 37,000 square meters of government land as a burial ground, the court noted in its Jan. 8 order. The land “shall not be put to any use other than the use for which it has been reserv-ed,” the order said. The court took up the issue following a petition by Melwyn Fer-nandes, a Catholic activist, who complained that the Christian community in the area suffered from a lack of burial grounds as it could not use the land the government had allotted for burials. Fernandes, general secretary of the Association of Concerned Catholics, filed the public interest litigation in 2021 seeking the court’s intervention to ensure adequate burial land for Christians in Thane district. The petition alleged that the municipality, in 2019, engaged a private land-developing firm to prepare the land for use as a cemetery. But, the firm, alle-gedly owned by the state transport mini-ster, Pratap Sarnaik, did not develop the plot. However, Sarnik’s firm began constru-cting a commercial housing project adjacent to the designated burial ground and en-croached upon it. Fernandes told that the court order made the Christian community happy as the original burial ground plan designated an area for the community in the district. Christians in the state, who form barely 1 percent of its 132 million people, do not have enough burial grounds, Fernandes said, adding: “The case for Christians in Thane is worse.”

His Beatitude Mar Raphael Thattil, the Major Archbishop of the Syro-Malabar Church and the Metro-politan Archbishop of Emakulam-Angamaly, appointed Archbishop Mar Joseph Pamplany as the Vicar of the Major Archbishop for the Archeparchy of Emakulam-Angamaly on January 11, 2025. This appoint-ment was made following the First Session of the XXXIII Synod of Bishops of the Syro Malabar Church, held at Mount St. Thomas, Kakkanad from 6 to 11 January 2025, where Archbishop Pamplany was elected to the Office of the Vicar of the Major Archbishop. The election was subse-quently confirmed by the Holy Father. Archbishop Pamplany will continue to serve as the Metropolitan Archbishop of Tellicherry. Holy Father Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of Bishop Mar Bosco Puthur from the Office of Apostolic Administrator of the Archeparchy of Emakulam Angamaly. Mar Puthur, who was appointed to the Office on December 7, 2023, had submitted his resignation in September 2024. With the resignation of the Apostolic Administrator accepted, the gover-nance of the Archeparchy of Erna-kulam-Angamaly has been entrusted to the Major Archbishop by the Apo-stolic See. At the same time, Arch-bishop Cyril Vasil SJ will continue to be the Pontifical Delegate for the Archeparchy of Emakulam Anga-maly.

A group of musicians from Mum-bai has launched an album featuring 15 songs to mark the 2025th year of the birth of Jesus of Nazareth. The collection, titled “Jubilate Jesus 2025,” released on December 31, 2024, is an initiative by Tej-Prasarini, the media production house of the Mumbai Salesian province.
The project was coordinated by Salesian Father Peter Gonsalves, the founder of Tej-Prasarini, former dean of the Faculty of Social Communi-cations at the Salesian Pontifical University in Rome, and a member of the Vatican Department for Communications.