Catholic priests in a troubled Indian Church archdiocese have called off a four-day protest after an assurance of dialogue to resolve their demands amid a raging decades-old liturgy dispute on the rubrics of Mass. The temporary truce within the Eastern rite Syro-Malabar Church, based in southern Kerala state, was reached on Jan. 13. The protesting priests were hoping for a settlement of the liturgy dispute at the Synod of Bishops, which was held from Jan. 6 to 11. On Jan. 9, some 21 priests entered the archbishop’s house to press their demands. However, the police evicted them on Jan. 11 and moved them to the adjacent compound of St. Mary’s Cathedral Basi-lica. “The protest was called off after the new vicar, Archbishop Joseph Pamplany, agreed to consider our demands and hold a dialogue to resolve them,” said Fr Kuria-kose Mundadan, the presbytery council secretary of the troubled Archdiocese of Ernakulam-Angamaly. Nearly 12 priests sustained injuries, including fractures, in the police action, leading to public protests by priests, nuns, and laypeople in the arch-diocese on Jan. 12. “They demanded action against police officials for their barbaric actions,” Mundadan told on Jan. 13.
When the situation escalated, the district collector convened a meeting with Church officials and the protesters late on Jan. 12. The Church authorities assigned Vicar General Father Jacob G Palakkappilly for the meeting, but the protesters refused to speak to him, saying he did not have the mandate to make a decision. Instead, they insisted on holding talks in the presence of Pamplany, the newly-appointed vicar of the archdiocese and the Archbishop of Tellicherry in Kerala state. The collector, the district’s top govern-ment official, contacted Pamplany, who was traveling but was asked to abort his journey. He joined the talks around 10.30 pm. The discussions continued until 1:30 am on Jan. 13, when Pamplany agreed in writing to consider the protesting priests’ demands, which included setting up cano-nical bodies in the archdiocese, considering the appointment of new curia, and halting all disciplinary actions initiated against them. The prelate also agreed to begin a dialogue with the priests and lay leaders regarding all the pending issues, including the liturgy dispute, from Jan. 20. Earna-kulam-Angamaly Archdiocese is the seat of power of the Church’s head and the biggest diocese, with close to 10% of the over five million followers worldwide.
Christian activists seek govt assurance on Bhopal waste disposal
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.
Indian police file complaint months after politician mocked Christ
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.”
Church leaders oppose changes to Indian state’s forest laws
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.
Indian court hands burial ground back to Christians
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.”
Archbishop Mar Joseph Pamplany Appointed Vicar of the Major Archbishop for the Archeparchy of Ernakulam-Angamaly
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.
Mumbai musicians release youth anthem for 2025 Jubilee
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.
New church in Jordan reflects national desire for closer ties with Christendom
The Jan. 10 inauguration of a vast church on the very spot where Jesus Christ was baptized by St. John the Baptist in the Jordan River was an event of significant symbolic importance, both spiritually and diplomatically.
It also reflected the Hashemite kingdom’s determination to establish itself as an essential stop-off point for pilgrims to the Holy Land as well as a haven of peace for the world’s Christian faithful, who are increasingly reluctant to travel to a region torn apart by geopolitical and ethnic-religious conflicts.
“So many biblical events and figures meet here that we could say that this place embraces the entire expectation of the Old Testament as directed to the coming of Christ, the manifestation of the Father,” said the Vatican’s secretary of state, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, at the ceremony of consecration of the altar, also attended by the patriarch of Jerusalem, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, and Prince Ghazi bin Muhammad, grandson of King Talal of Jordan and cousin of King Abdullah II of Jordan.
Initiated following the donation by the king of a 30,000-square-meter (almost-7.5-acre) plot of land on the outskirts of the historic site of Al-Maghtas (also known as Bethany Beyond the Jordan, in the Qafra region) in 2003, the project was completed just in time for the silver jubilee of the grand annual pilgrimage, which for the past 25 years has taken place every January around the feast of the Baptism of Christ. This jubilee also coincides with the celebrations of the Catholic Church’s 2025 Jubilee.
Pope Francis’ 2024 travels: historic visits to Southeast Asia, Oceania, Belgium, and Corsica
Despite health challenges that led to a cancelled trip to Dubai for COP28, Pope Francis maintained an ambitious travel schedule in 2024 that saw him draw large crowds in Asia and make his first-ever visit to Corsica as well as visiting Belgium and Luxembourg. The now-88-year-old pontiff’s longest apostolic journey was the 12-day tour of Southeast Asia and Oceania in Sept., where thousands of faithful attended papal events.
In Indonesia, Francis visited the grounds of Jakarta’s Istiqlal Mosque, where he joined Muslim leaders in discussing global challenges and signed a joint declaration condemning religious-based violence. “The path of inter-faith collaboration is essential to addressing global crises,” Francis told his audience. About 100,000 faithful later attended an outdoor Mass where the pope emphasized Catholic engagement in pluralistic societies.
In Papua New Guinea, Francis focused on Indigenous communities while blessing a new hospital for underserved populations. The pope’s message of hope reached its numerical peak in Timor-Leste, where an estimated 750,000 people – nearly two-thirds of the nation’s population – gathered for Mass in Dili.
September also brought some controversy during the pope’s visit to Belgium, where Prime Minister Alexander De Croo strongly criticized he pontiff’s comments on abortion.
During his in-flight press conference, the pope had called abortion “homicide” and referred to doctors who perform the procedure as “contract killers,” prompting De Croo to call such remarks “absolutely unacceptable.”
The dispute distracted from the actual focus of the Belgium visit: the 600th-anniversary celebrations of the Catholic universities of Leuven and Louvain-la-Neuve. Earlier in Luxembourg, Francis had challenged Catholics to evangelize an increasingly secular Europe, noting that “having wealth includes responsibility.” The papal travel year concluded on a historic note Dec. 15 in Corsica, where Francis became the first pope to visit the French Mediterra-nean island. His participation in a diocesan conference examining popular piety empha-sized the continued importance of local devotions in maintaining Catholic identity.
Priestly vocations are up in Burkina Faso despite Islamic terrorism
Despite constant terrorist attacks suffered by Catholics in Burkina Faso from Islamic fundamentalists, vocations to the priesthood have increased in recent years, especially in dioceses located in “danger zones.” Nearly 40% of seminarians come from these localities, which are the most affected by terrorism and violence.
According to the pontifical foundation Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), just at Sts. Peter and Paul Seminary alone, the number of candidates for the priesthood rose from 254 in the 2019-2020 academic year to 281 in 2024-2025. Terrorist violence began to wreak havoc in the African country in 2019. Father Guy Moukassa Sanon, the seminary rector, explained that during the holidays not all students can return home. Doing so would mean “mortal danger,” so they are taken in by diocesan centres, by host families, or are simply invited by their classmates to spend the holidays in safer areas.