The Church has welcomed a decision by the communist-led government in India’s southern Kerala state to drop charges against an 88-year-old Catholic bishop and 23 others for entering a restricted forest during a march demanding the reopening of a blocked public road. “We are happy the go-vernment announced dropping of charges against our elderly bishop for joining a public protest,” said Vincent Nedun-gatt, Vicar General of Kotha-mangalam diocese of Eastern Rite Syro-Malabar Church based in Kerala. Retired Bishop George Punnakottil of Kotha-mangalam and others, including elected representatives, were charged with violating forest laws and trespassing on forest land on March 23, along with over 3000 aggrieved local people, mostly farmers. Father Nedungatt told on April 21 that the prelate should not have been charged with violation of the law. “He knew the difficulties and pain of his people, especially farmers, and joined the protest to protect their interests,” he added. People from different walks of life, including Catholics, condemned the Left Democratic Front government and demanded that it withdraw the charges against the bishop and others. The government decided to drop the charges at a high-level meeting attended by Law Minister P. Rajeev, Forest Minister A. K. Saseen-dran and other senior officials on April 16, official sources said.
Indian state releases convict in Australian missionary murder
The government in eastern India’s Odisha state has released a man serving a life term for the murder of Australian missionary Graham Staines and his two minor sons, reportedly considering his “good conduct” in jail. The government, led by the Hindu-leaning Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), released Mahendra Hembram, 51, on April 16 after he had spent 25 years in prison. Keonjhar district prison authorities gave Hembram a cordial farewell and, garlanded him in recognition of his good conduct in jail, reports said. “The Christian community in Odisha is shocked over the news of his pre-mature release,” said Father Ajay Singh, a lawyer and activist belonging the archdiocese of Cuttack–Bhubaneswar in the state. Singh told on April 17 that the release of Hembram, who murdered a missionary and his two sons, “will set a horrible precedent.” Hembram was given life in prison for assisting Dara Singh, the main culprit, who burnt alive Staines and his two minor sons – Philip (aged 10) and Timothy (aged 6) – on Jan. 22, 1999, in the Koenjhar district of eastern Odisha state. The missionary and the children were sleeping inside their vehicle in the remote village.
Indian state uproots cross, parishioners fight for land rights
Catholics in a parish in Kerala in southern India have accused the state’s forest department of “terrorizing” them after officials uprooted a cross and registered charges against their priest and leaders for encroaching on forest land. James Aikkaramattam, parish priest of St. Thomas Church in Idukki district, told on April 21 that the cross was on “parish land that a parishioner donated decades ago.” On April 12, Palm Sunday, forest officials used an earthmover to remove the 3-meter concrete cross, claiming it was illegally occupying forest land. The forest department also registered a case against 18 people, including the parish priest, for violating forest laws by trespassing onto forest land and encroaching upon government property. ”The charges against me and others are false, as we did not trespass onto any protected forest. A parishioner built his house on the land and lived there for five decades before donating it to the parish.
Indian court protects conversion-accused nun from arrest
A state court in central Indian Chhattisgarh state has issued a pre-arrest bail to a Catholic nun after police began investigating a complaint that the nun attempted to convert a Hindu student at her nursing college. The move of the Bilaspur High Court, the highest court in the state, saves Sister Bincy Joseph from immediate arrest. The nun is the principal of Holy Cross Nursing College, located in Kunkuri town in the predominantly tribal Jashpur district. “We are relieved and happy,” said Abhinandan Xalxo, president of the Jashpur Catholic Sabha (church), who has been assisting the nun in the case. Xalxo told on April 25 that the court granted anticipatory bail to Joseph on April 24. Police are investigating an April 6 complaint of a student that the nun “attempted to forcibly convert” her. The complaint was sent to the district collector, the top civil official in a district, and the Superintendent of Police, the district’s top police official.
Missionaries of Charity shut down shelter home in India’s Goa
The Missionaries of Charity, founded by St. Mother Teresa of Kolkata, has closed their home for the destitute in Goa, western India, on April 28 amid fears that their landlords pushed them out to reclaim the land. Sister Rosario, the superior of the seven-member community in state capital Panaji, told they have handed over the place to the original owners, Assistência de Goa, a charity organization. “We have received an order from our Kolkata headquarters to leave and go to another place,” she said. The Missionaries of Charity nuns worked in the house for 49 years after Mother Teresa started the home on a 5,000 square meter premises at the invitation of Assistencia de Goa, in a prime location in the state capital.
Students Inspire Tangra Locals with Earth Day Celebrations
Students of Don Bosco Tuition Centre Nitika in Tangra, Kolkata extended their Earth Day 2025 celebrations beyond their institution, transforming Radhanath Chowdhury Road, Seal Lane and Tangra into a hub of environmental awareness. This student-led initiative aimed to inspire the local community and spotlight the urgent need for sustainable practices. Earth Day, observed globally on April 22 since 1970, serves as a call to action for preserving the planet. This year too, Don Bosco Nitika students brought this call directly to passersby, engaging them through dances, speeches, slogans, and skits that highlighted pressing issues like pollution, global warming, and water scarcity.
Jammu bishop condemns attack on pilgrims
Bishop Ivan Pereira of Jammu-Srinagar on April 23 expressed deep anguish and unequivocal condemnation of what he called horrific terrorist attack on innocent tourists in Kashmir state. Suspected rebels on April 22 killed 27 people in the picturesque tourist resort of Pahalgam. The attack in Kashmir’s southern district of Anantnag came amid the peak tourist season as thousands of tourists were holidaying in the region. Bishop Pereira said the “act of senseless violence” has “cast a dark shadow over our collective conscience.”
Canadian bishops: Protect life, freedom, and vulnerable in upcoming election
In a statement released ahead of the April 28 federal election, Canada’s bishops are calling on Catholics to vote with a renewed spirit of hope, guided by conscience and rooted in faith — with particular concern for the right to life, care for the vulnerable, and protection of religious freedom.
Framed within the Church’s Jubilee Year of Hope, the pastoral letter from the Permanent Council of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops encourages the faithful to reflect prayerfully on the challenges facing the country “with a spirit of hope and a vision for a better future.”
“In a free and democratic society, all those eligible to vote have not only a right but also a responsibility to engage with local candidates and political parties,” the bishops write. “We are called to discern which policies best serve the common good — that which the Church defines as ‘the sum of those conditions of … social life whereby people, families, and associations more adequately and readily may attain their own perfection’” (Gaudium et Spes, 74).
Among the many issues Catholics are called to consider, the bishops place particular emphasis on the right to life, stating: “This right is being undermined by the lack of legal protection for the unborn, the ongoing expansion of eligibility for medical assistance in dying (MAID), and the insufficient access to quality palliative care for those who are suffering at the end of life.”
The bishops call on Catholics to advocate for society’s most vulnerable members: “those living in poverty, victims of human trafficking, individuals suffering from mental illness and addiction, the homeless, and immigrants,” each of whom is described as “deserving of both social and legal support.”
The bishops also warn of “growing intolerance toward religious communities in Canada,” including “threats to remove charitable tax status simply for upholding values rooted in faith that diverge from prevailing secular ideologies.”
Divine Mercy Sunday: Pope Francis was an ‘instrument of mercy for humanity,’ Parolin says
Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin presided over the solemn Mass for Divine Mercy Sunday held in St. Peter’s Square, highlighting the need for the Church to follow in Pope Francis’ footsteps as “instruments of mercy for humanity” in the world today. ”Only mercy heals and creates a new world, putting out the fires of distrust, hatred, and violence: This is the great teaching of Pope Francis,” Parolin said in his Sunday homily.
“Pope Francis was a shining witness of a Church that bends down with tenderness toward those who are wounded and heals with the balm of mercy,” he added. Approximately 200,000 people participated in the outdoor Mass offered for the late pontiff on the second day of the Church’s “Novendiales” mourning period, the Holy See Press Office reported.
“Brothers and sisters, preci-sely on Divine Mercy Sunday we remember our beloved Pope Francis with affection,” Parolin said. “It is precisely the Father’s mercy, which is greater than our limitations and calculations, that characterized the magisterium of Pope Francis and his intense apostolic activity.”
Insisting that people’s affections for the late pope “must not remain a mere emotion of the moment,” Parolin said “the Church must welcome his legacy” by “opening ourselves to God’s mercy and also being merciful to one another.”
Addressing the throngs of teenagers present in the square Parolin encouraged them to be close to Jesus Christ and to show his “merciful face” to all those they encounter in life. “I address a special greeting to you, with the desire to make you feel the embrace of the Church and the affection of Pope Francis, who would have liked to meet you, to look into your eyes, and to pass among you to greet you,” Parolin said to applause from those gathered in the square.
Conclave has most cardinals, widest geographical mix in history
There are 135 cardinals under the age of 80 and eligible to vote in a papal election. By contrast, 115 cardinals took part in the conclaves in 2005 and 2013. The cardinals represent 72 different countries if one counts the nations where they are serving and not just where they were born.
The cardinals’ average age on April 28 was 70 years and 5 months. That is slightly younger than the average age of electors who participated in the last conclave in 2013, which was 71.8. According Universi Dominici Gregis, the document giving rules for the election of a new pope, cardinals who celebrate their 80th birthday before the day the Apostolic See becomes vacant – that is, with a papal death or resignation – do not take part in the election.
The oldest among current voters is Cardinal Carlos Osoro Sierra, the retired archbishop of Madrid, who turns 80 May 16. The youngest member of the conclave is 45-year-old Ukrainian-born Cardinal Mykola Bychok of the Ukrainian Eparchy of Sts Peter and Paul of Melbourne, Australia. He is one of 17 Gen X cardinals, those born between 1965 and 1980.
Only five of the cardinals eligible to enter the conclave were created cardinals by St John Paul II and 22 were created by Pope Benedict XVI. That means 27 of them took part in the conclave that elected Pope Francis, and five of those also participated in the 2005 conclave that elected Pope Benedict. But that also means voting in a conclave will be a brand new experience for 108 of the electors.
While the geographical breakdown of conclave voters has become more diverse since 1978, Europeans are still the largest block with 52 electors. However, Asia is more represented now than ever before with 24 electors. There are 23 cardinal-electors representing Latin America, followed by Africa with 18 electors. North America has 14 electors and Oceania has four voting-age cardinals.