West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee greeted the people on Christmas after attending services at a church in the city. Banerjee attended Christmas services at the Cathedral of The Most Holy Rosary in Kolkata and interacted with the people.
“The beauty of Bengal is that we celebrate all festivals, spreading peace, joy, and happiness. Christmas festivities have already started every-where in great spirit,” she said. “Merry Christmas to all of you once again,” she added.
Governor Jagdeep Dhan-khar also greeted the people of the state on Christmas. “Let’s spread message of peace and joy and illuminate lives of others,” he said.
The governor said Opposi-tion leader in state assembly Abdul Mannan and minister Firhad Hakim met him at Raj Bhavan separately to greet him on Christmas.

With Christmas just over a week away, Arch-bishop of Bombay Cardinal Oswald Gracias on Dece-mber 15 sounded a note of caution, asking churches and parishioners to follow the guidelines in place in view of the pandemic.
Issuing a slew of guidelines and Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for churches across the diocese for Christmas, Cardinal Gracias reminded the Council of Deans and the parishioners that Section 144 is still in effect in the city and an assembly of over 200 people is not permitted. Police have made no relaxations in this regard, he added.
“People expect a Mass on Christmas Eve. The government and police have permitted Mass inside the church, however, please stay in touch with your local police station,” wrote Card. Gracias, in a communication addressed to the Council of Deans, parish priests and priests in-charge.
He said “more than one Vigil Mass may be celebrated in our churches” to ensure guidelines on gathering are followed. “Similarly, the number of Masses on Christmas morning can be increased, and we are encouraged to have Mass on Christmas evening, too, for those who cannot come in the morning.”

Pope Francis has appointed Arch-bishop Joseph Kalathiparambil of Verapoly as a member of the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples for five years.
This is the second time the 68-year-old Indian prelate joins the congregation. Earlier, he had served the commission for five years from 2011, says a press note from the Conference of Catholic Bishops of India.

Pope Francis on December 28 promoted Bishop Victor Lyngdoh of Jowai as the archbishop of Shillong in the northeastern State of Meghalaya.
The appointment was made public at noon in Rome, corresponding to 4:30 pm in India.
Shillong archdiocese, the mother diocese of the Catholic Church in north-eastern India, was without a leader after the death of Salesian Archbishop Dominic Jala on October 10, 2019, in a road accident in the United States. Archbishop Jala, 68, was the first prelate from the Khasi tribe, one of prominent ethnic groups in Meghalaya.

A post card campaign was launched on December 10, the human rights day, to seek the release of Jesuit Father Stan Swamy and those allegedly accused falsely in the Bhima Koregaon case
Under the campaign, the “Friends of Fr Stan Swamy” planned to send as many as 100,000 post cards to India’s Prime Minister and home minister demanding the immediate release of the 83-year-old Jesuit and others imprisoned in the case. The campaign also wants the draconian Unlawful Activities Prohibition Act (UAPA).
In Kolkata, eminent human right activist Sujato Bhadra opened the campaign by signing the first post card at Ranu Chayya Manch, near the historic Victoria Memorial. Before signing the card, Bhadra explained how the UAPA has been abused for vested interests.
He was accompanied by Kriti Roy, secretary of Banglar Manabadhikar Suraksha Mancha (MASUM, Bengal human rights protection front), the organizer of the event in Kolkata.
Jesuit human right activist Father Irudaya Jothi, one of the coordinators of the campaign, explained the reasons for the nationwide program and how it was planned nationally.
Father Jothi welcomed the Jesuit collaborators, teachers, students, parents and alumni of the hundreds of the Jesuit educational institutions who have joined the campaign.
The Jesuit food right activist in West Bengal expressed the hope all who value human rights would join the campaign transcending religion, caste, creed, gender and ethnicity.

A Catholic leader in India’s Madhya Pradesh State sees a political ploy in a government move to criminalize interfai-th marriages that involve reli-gious conversion.
Archbishop Leo Cornelio of Bhopal, based in the state capital, said the state government’s proposal aims to appease the majority Hindu community rather than address any real issue.
Leaders of the pro-Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which runs the state government, said that during the legislative session starting in December they plan to make legal provisions to stop Hindus from becoming Muslims and Christians for marriage.
State chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan accused Christian missionaries of converting indigenous people while addressing gatherings in Umaria and Barwani districts, which are dominated by indigenous people.
He also advised missionaries not to offer their services in the hope of converting beneficiaries to their faith.
Madhya Pradesh is among states with strict laws to check religious conver-sion through allurement or force as punishable offenses. The law, ironically named the Freedom of Religion act, was enacted in the state in 1967.
The government has not yet released the bill’s draft to reveal the quantum of punishment and other details. It is also unclear if the government plans to amend the Freedom of Religion Act or to enact a separate law.
Rameshwar Sharma, the state assembly’s speaker, said the government plans to scrap quota benefits meant for women of lower castes or tribal people if they changed their religion and married Muslims or Christians, media reports said.
Archbishop Cornelio told UCA News on Nov. 30 that the Catholic Church is not involved in conversion “through force or allurement” and it “was wrong to paint” the Church’s charitable work as a facade for conversion.
“If the allegation was true, the Christian population would be much more than what it is today,” he asserted.

The advocate of activist Father Stan Swamy, an accused in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case, on December 4 told a special court that Swamy has been given a straw and sipper by the Taloja jail authorities. Swamy, 83, on December 4 filed three fresh applications seeking a direction to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to return his bag (seized by it at the time of his arrest), a clone copy of his hard disk (seized by it) and a direction to not transfer him from Taloja jail. Swamy claimed that he apprehends that he would be transferred from the Taloja prison near here in Navi Mumbai.
After the court rejected his bail application on health ground on Oct. 23, the elderly priest suffering from Parkinson’s disease on Nov. 26 filed a petition seeking regular bail. The court posted the application for Dec. 4 while seeking a response from the NIA.

As negotiations failed to end the week-long protest by Indian farmers in New Delhi, more than 40 Catholic bishops in Kerala have sought government action to address the farmers’ plight.
Federal agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar led the government team in negotiations lasting more than seven hours with 40 leaders of farmer unions on Dec. 3. Although talks failed, the teams are meeting again on Dec. 5.
“Millions of families of farmers in the country are worried about their future because of the new farm laws,” said Card. George Alencherry after a three-day session of Kerala Catholic Bishops’ Council attended by 42 bishops in the southern state.
Thousands of farmers, mostly from Punjab and Haryana States, have been protesting in the national capital since Nov. 29 to demand the repeal of what they termed as three anti-farmer laws.