The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI) has condemned the terrorist attack on tourists in India’s Kashmir that killed 26 people and injured 17 others, expressing pain for families who lost their loved ones. Terrorists opened fire on tourists on April 22 in the famed Baisaran meadow, about 5 kilometers from the resort town of Pahalgam in Kashmir’s Anantnag district. The victims include two foreigners – from the UAE and Nepal – and two local people. Indian authorities described the attack as one of the deadliest in recent times, according to media reports. The bishops’ conference’s April 23 statement said: “We strongly condemn this heinous crime against humanity, which has targeted innocent lives, causing immense pain and suffering to families and loved ones.” The bishops’ body called it “a brutal act” and “a grave affront to human dignity and values,” while demanding that those responsible “be brought to justice.” It further appealed to those involved in violence to lay down their arms and embrace the path of peace. “Violence only breeds more violence, and it is high time for us to choose the path of love, compassion, and understanding,” it added. The bishops urged the Christian community across India to pray fervently for the repose of the souls of those who have lost their lives and for the speedy recovery of those injured in the attack. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi cut short an official visit to Saudi Arabia after the attack and returned to New Delhi. He decried the “heinous act” and pledged that the attackers “will be brought to justice.” The deadly attack on tourists coincided with the April 21-24 visit of US Vice President JD Vance. He called it a “devastating terrorist attack.” US President Donald Trump, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, among other world leaders, condemned the attack and expressed solidarity with India. UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres strongly condemned the “armed attack,” stressing that attacks against civilians are unacceptable under any circumstances.

Three weeks after police assaulted two Catholic priests and tribal women in a village in eastern Odisha, Church leaders say the Hindu-leaning state government has not taken any action against the attackers. Father Joshi George, parish priest in Juba village of Gajapati dis-trict, told on April 15 that they have “not heard from the police or any government officials” about any action taken regarding the March 22 incident. Police assaulted George, his assistant Father Dayanand Nayak, and several women cleaning the parish church in what was described as a targeted attack on Christians. George said a police team led by woman police officer Joshna Roy “singularly targeted Christians in the villages whereas the Hindus were let off.” The priest said the state’s inaction, even after three weeks, supports the argument that it was a targeted move. “Police have filed a false case of selling marijuana against a Catholic teacher of a government-run school in a neighboring village. He has been now suspended from his job, while a Hindu teacher detained by the police has been let off,” George said. Police used a lathi – a long, heavy bamboo stick – to beat up people “and molested women belonging to a tribal community as they barged into” the church premises said a fact-finding team in an April 13 report titled “Police turned from Protectors to Perpetrators.” “There is a palpable sense of fear, insecurity, and disbelief among the children, women, and two Catholic priests. This does not bode well for the administration,” the report stated. “This is the first time in the recorded history of the state” that police targeted, beat, and paraded Catholic priests, the report said.

The Hindu-majority Meitei community in northeast India’s restive Manipur state have called off an annual religious pilgrimage to sacred hills following an alleged threat from predominantly Christian tribals in the area, according to sources. The Meitei people scrapped their pilgrimage to the Thangjing Hills in tribal-dominated Churachandpur district on April 14 after the tribal community vowed to oppose access to the area, the unnamed sources said. Animosity between the state’s Meitei and tribal groups has resulted in sectarian violence since May 2023 that has left more than 260 people dead and about 60,000 displaced. Most victims were tribal Christians. Some Church leaders expressed dismay over the tough stance taken by the tribal groups. “It would have been a good occasion for promoting goodwill and brotherhood,” a Church leader based in the state capital Imphal told on April 15 on condition of anonymity. “We cannot restore peace without dialogue and any act that aggravates hostilities and ill will should be avoided,” added another Christian leader who also wished to remain anonymous. Local sources say young Meitei reached the buffer zone that divides the Imphal Valley where most Meitei live, and hilly areas dominated by tribal people on April 14. But they returned home after security forces and their elders told them to go back following a threat from the tribals. Meitei people consider the Thangjing Hills as being a scared religious site. Every April, during Cheiraobab — the Meitei New Year they trek to the hills to offer prayers to their deity, Lainingthou Sanamahi.

Indian Catholic nun Eliswa Vakayil, known as a champion of women’s rights, has moved closer to sainthood after Pope Francis published a decree authorizing her and five others to be declared blessed. Francis approved the decree to beatify the 19th-century nun during an audience with Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, prefect of the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, on April 14, according to Vatican News. As part of the procedure, Francis approved a miracle attributed to Eliswa Vakayil (1831–1913), from Kerala state of southern India, is popularly known as Mother Eliswa of the Blessed Virgin Mary. She founded the first indigenous Carmelite religious order for women known as the Third Order of Discalced Carmelites in 1866. It was later renamed as the Teresian Carmelite Sisters. Vakayil was married at the age of 16 and gave birth to a daughter named Anna before entering religious life. The sudden illness and death of her husband changed the course of her life. Her daughter was just 18 months old then, according to a report by the Vatican’s Fides news agency. She took refuge in silent prayer and service to the needy in the community. She started frequenting the Blessed Sacrament and other forms of spiritual nourishment. In 1862, about 12 years after her husband’s death, she expressed her desire to join religious life to her parish priest. Four years later, she joined the Carmelite congregation, a feat soon followed by her daughter Anna and her younger sister Thresia.

A Church-run college in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh has denied allegations of religious conversion and discrimination against students amid protests by hardline Hindu activists. “The allegations leveled against St. Dominic Savio College in Lucknow are totally false and baseless,” said Father Donald D’Souza, the spokesperson of Lucknow diocese, which manages the institution. Activists of the Hindu Mahasabha, or grand assembly of Hindus, a right-wing organization, protested in front of the college on April 15. They told media the college management had “detained some students on the campus with an ulterior motive to convert them.” They also alleged that Hindu students were not allowed to wear their religious symbols like the sacred thread and tilak, a mark on the forehead to indicate caste or sect status, on the campus. These allegations were also posted on social media, and the Hindu Mahasabha wanted district authorities to take action against the institution. The college, in its April 15 statement, denied the “claims circulating on Facebook that the institution discriminated against students on religious grounds, leading to their detention in Class 11.” The institution, which started 48 years ago in the state capital, said the allegations were “misleading and disturbing.” “The decision to detain certain students was based purely on academic performance,” the statement clarified, adding that the students in question “have consistently underperformed throughout the academic year, showing little to no improvement despite repeated interventions.”