Police in Uttar Pradesh in northern India have arrested four Christians after they were accused of violating the state’s stringent anti-conversion law. “Our four faithful were arrested on May 12 after they were accused of attempting to convert gullible indigenous people with job offers and financial aid,” said a Church official providing legal help to the victims. They were arrested and taken to Chandan Chawki police station in Lakhimpur Kheri district in the state, which witnesses high levels of persecution against Christians, according to rights activists. The four were remanded in custody the following day. Efforts to secure their bail were still ongoing, according to the Church official, who did not wish to be named. This was the latest in a series of arrests of Christians for alleged violations of the anti-conversion law, which carries up to 20 years in jail. Christian leaders and rights activists say these laws are tools to persecute minorities by right-wing Hindu groups and have called on the Supreme Court to declare them unconstitutional.
Spanish bishops speak out after leaks of their meeting with Leo XIV
The executive committee of the Spanish Bishops’ Conference, (CEE, by its Spanish acronym) meeting in Madrid this week, issued an official statement regarding the leaks
