A member of India’s parliament has criticized Pope Francis for comparing gossiping with coronavirus. “I’m not sure about this, Your Holiness… Sometimes it seems like Covid might be a tad bit worse…” tweeted Varun Gandhi, a member of the Lok Sabha (peolple’s house), the lower house of parliament. The 40-year-old politician belonging to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party was referring to Pope Francis’ remarks on August 6 that gossiping is a “plague worse than Covid” that is seeking to divide the Catholic Church.

Jesuit Father Gaston Roberge, the French-Canadian founder of Chitrabani media training institute in Kolkata and film and media scholar par excellence, died at St Xavier’s College, Kolkata, on Aug. 26. He was 85. Both Chitrabani and the Xavier Institute of Communications, founded by Francis “Packy” MacFarland, were born within a year of each other, a little over 50 years ago in 1969-70, in two different parts of the country, Calcutta (now Kolkata) and Bombay (now Mumbai).

A pioneering Jesuit missionary who had worked for four decades in north-eastern India has died.
Father Jayant Kumar Padival died around 10 pm on September 8 in Father Muller Hospital, Mangaluru, a port town in the southern Indian State of Karnataka. He was 71 and a Jesuit for 54 years.
According to Karnataka Jesuit Provincial Father Dionysius Gerard Leonard Vaz, the burial service was scheduled at 3:30 pm on September 9. Due to the Covid-19 restrictions, only a few people are attending the burial service.

Bishop Paul Chittilapilly, the first prelate of a Syro-Malabar diocese Pope Paul II created 33 years ago to resolve the rite rivalry in the Indian Church, died on Sept. 6. He was 86. Bishop Chittilapilly, who had served as the bishop of Kalyan in Maharashtra and Thamarassery in Kerala, died at 6:45 pm in Nirmala Hospital, managed by the Ursulines of Mary Immaculate nuns, in Kozhikode.

Pope Francis on August 29 appointed Father George Kurisummoottil as the auxiliary bishop of Kottayam Syro-Malabar archdiocese to take care of its Knanaya faithful from Syro-Malankara Church. The new bishop is currently the vicar general for the Syro-Malankara faithful of the archdiocese. Father Kurisummoottil has chosen the name Gheevarghese Mar Aprem.

Apostolic Nuncio to Japan Archbishop Joseph Chennoth, an Indian, died September 7 in Tokyo following a heart attack. He was 76. The death occurred at 1:30 pm Japan time (8 am Indian time). The Syro-Malabar prelate from Kerala, southern India, was reportedly recuperating after a stroke some time back. His funeral details are yet announced. Archbishop Chennoth was the apostolic nuncio to Japan since 2011. Archbishop Chennoth was born on October 13, 1943, as one of the six sons and two daughters of Joseph and Mariakutty of Kokkamangalam Chennoth family in Cherthala, Alapuzha district.

An Ursuline Franciscan nun has been appointed by Mysuru District Legal Service Authority as panel advocate for free legal aid clinic. Sr Jenifer Pinto of the congregation’s of Mysuru Province will provide as a free legal advisor in the Taluk office at Mysuru, a city in south-western Indian State of Karnataka.
She is the first person to be appointed as a free legal adviser in the newly started Free Legal Aid Clinic of Mysore Taluk.
Sister Pinto is a practicing advocate in Mysuru and Chamarajnagar District Courts.

The Indian Church and political leaders across party lines are mourning former Indian president Pranab Mukherjee, who died on Aug. 31 in New Delhi. Mukherjee, 84, had brain surgery at the Army Research and Referral Hospital in the national capital in late August. He had also tested positive for Covid-19.
“His passing away leaves a deep void in Indian politics. The Church in India will miss him very much for his political statesmanship, moral integrity and fine oratorical skills,” said Cardinal Oswald Gracias, president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI).
He recalled that Mukherjee was the chief guest at the CBCI’s Christmas celebrations in December 2018 when he impressed many with his vast knowledge of the Bible.
“We mourn his loss and express our gratitude for all the support and encouragement he gave the Christian community and its activities. May the Almighty grant him eternal rest.” Cardinal Gracias said.

India’s Home Ministry has cancelled four Christian organizations’ licenses to receive foreign donations without specifying any reason for the move. The Christian groups are among six organizations whose licenses have been cancelled this year, a ministry source told UCA News.
The four organizations are Mumbai-based New Life Fellowship Association, Evangelical Churches Association of Manipur in the northeast, Ecreosoculis North Western Gossner Evangelical and Northern Evangelical Lutheran Church — both based in Jharkhand State. A license number under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA), commonly known as an FCRA number, is mandatory to receive foreign donations in a bank account.
“From time to time, relevant matters concerning FCRA norms are reviewed, and government actions are taken,” said an official without citing any specific reasons for cancelling the FCRA numbers of the four Christian organization. Federal agencies are probing the funding activities of two US-based Christian donors — the Seventh Day Adventist Church and Baptist Church — in India.