A group of progressive Catholic religious priests, nuns and laity has mounted pressure on Vatican to act against an Indian Bishop accused of raping a Catholic nun.

They have urged the Apostolic nuncio to India Archbishop Giambattista Diquattro and President of the Catholic Bishops Conference of India (CBCI) Cardinal Oswald Gracias to advise Pope Francis to relieve the accused bishop of his pastoral responsibilities to pave way for an impartial probe.

The survivor in her complaint accused the prelate of raping her 13-times between 2014–2016 in a convent in Kerala where she was superior. Both the nun and the prelate are from Kerala. She belongs to a local congregation of women working in Jalandhar diocese under the direct control of the accused prelate.

But Bp Mulakkal told a Malayalam TV channel from his office in Jalandhar that he has not even been contacted by the police. He also said he has not applied for any anticipatory bail, because he has “done no wrong.”

The 167 member group led by Indian Christian Women Movement consisting nearly 70 nuns 15 priests and the laity exhorted the Church leadership to prove its “zero tolerance to sex abuse” in the Church with the removal of the prelate from all pastoral responsibilities.

Other issues raised in the letter as follows;
1. Every diocese respects and complies with the State laws with regard to addressing abuse cases of minors and sexual harassment of women in the Church.

2. The policy to prevent and deal with Sexual Abuse of Minors and Vulnerable Adults, as well as the Policy to prevent and deal with the Sexual Harassment of Women in the Workplace are disseminated to all the faithful and stake holders in Church and Church institutions so that they can be effectively implemented.

3. The required structures are set up within every diocese of the Church in India to address cases of sexual abuse and to prevent repeat bungling and criminal activity, not to speak of untold damage to the reputation of the Church and the faith of its people.

4. Greater attention is paid to the choice of candidates for the priesthood as well as to their formation in the seminary. This must include conscientization with regard to patriarchal attitudes that promote condescension and even aggression towards those considered “inferior,” and clericalism that is perceived to place the ordained outside civil law and permits lack of accountability and transparency.

5. Catholic Church leadership in India does not take a silent or indifferent stand when a case is reported because it apparently protects the perpetrator. When a man who represents God to people, is a sexual offender, faith in the God he represents is shaken to the core.

A group of Catholic women from Kerala who spent five days in Kandhamal say the faith of Odisha’s persecuted Christians has deepened their belief in Christ. “The Christians of Kandhamal have manifested a deep-rooted faith in Christ by facing the worst religious persecution in modern India,” said Sister Josia Padinjaradathu, a member of the 11-member team representing the Women Commission of the Kerala Catholic Bishops’ Council. “I am deeply touched and moved by listening to the survivors of Kandhamal,” she told Matters India.

The June 26-30 visit was a part of the Women Council of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India’s national reach out program in Kandhamal.

Sister Talisha Nadukudiyil, secretary of the council who arranged the visit, noted that Kandhamal was the epicentre of anti-Christian persecution in Odisha in 2007 and 2008. At least 100 people, mostly Christians, were killed and more than 56,000 people were rendered home-less. Hundreds of churches and houses were also destroyed in the mayhem that lasted for months.

An online signature campaign demanding the release of seven innocent Christians, jailed in connection to anti-Christian riots in Odisha, crossed the milestone of 50,000 signatures on July 11. Journalist author Anto Akkara, who has been spearheading the campaign in a press statement on July 12, called for more signatures for the release of the seven – six of them illiterates including a mentally challenged.

The seven Christians – Bhaskar Sunamajhi, Bijay Kumar Sanseth, Budhadeb Nayak, Durjo Sunamajhi, Gornath Chalenseth, Munda Badamajhi and Sanathan Badamajhi—have been jailed accused of murdering of Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati on Aug. 23, 2008.

The murder sparked a six-week long anti-Christian violence, resulting in the death of some 100 Christians. Frenzied groups raided and torched some 300 churches and 6,000 Christian houses.

Twenty-five Catholic bishops from all over India came together in the country’s commercial capital, Mumbai, in early July to take a closer look at the Church’s core mission in the country, AsiaNews reported.

They prayed and reflected on how best the Church can seek out, touch and heal the wounds of Jesus in suffering humanity.

The July 2-7 “Bishops’ Joint Reflection Programme” was the initiative of Conference of Catholic Bishops’ of India (CCBI), the official body of the country’s Latin-rite bishops, one of the three rites that make up the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India, the nation’s apex Catholic bishops’ body.

Cardinal Oswald Gracias, Archbishop of Bombay and president of both CBCI and CCBI, explained to AsiaNews that the purpose of the program was “to reflect on the mission of the Church and how we can touch the wounds of Jesus.” “St Thomas the Apostle, whose liturgical memorial recurred on July 3, wanted to touch the wounds of Jesus with his own hands,” Cardinal Gracias explained.

A Syro-Malabar archbishop, who heads a diocese in northern India, wants his Oriental Church to become global by breaking free the barriers of Kerala, its base in southern India.

“What we need is globalization and not colonization of the Church,” Archbishop Kuriakose Bharanikulangara of Faridabad said on July 1 in an apparent response to fears expressed in certain circles over the Oriental rite gaining pan India jurisdiction.

The Syro-Malabar Church’s recent all India expansion, the archbishop said, should be seen more as an opportunity for greater evangelization than colonial conquest or territorial expansion.

The Universal Church today needs more “mission power” than “muscle power,” explained the first prelate of Faridabad diocese erected on March 6, 2012, primarily for the Syro-Malabar Catholics settled in the national capital and surrounding regions.

The archbishop, a former Vatican diplomat, expressed these views in a pastoral letter that was read on July 1 in all 36 parishes and 15 mission stations under the diocese that covers the National Capital Region and the states of Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab and Rajasthan.

The prelate repeated them at the opening of the new academic year of catechism and faith formation program in the diocese held on the same day. More than 500 catechism teachers of the diocese attended the program at St Francis Assisi Forane Church in Dilshad Garden, a suburb in eastern India.

Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of Bishop Aloysius Paul D’Souza of Mangalore and has appointed Fr Peter Paul

Saldanha (54) the new Bishop of Mangalore. The bisop-elect, a priest of Mangalore, is now Professor at the Pontifical Urbanian University in Rome.

This ecclesiastical provision was made public in Rome and Mangalore on July 3. Rev. Fr Peter Paul Saldanha was born in Kinnigoli, Diocese of Mangalore, on 27 April, 1964.

Pope Francis on June 29 transferred Bishop Sebastian Kallupura of Buxar to Patna archdiocese as the coadjutor. Both the dioceses are in Bihar, eastern India.

On the same day, the pontiff accepted the resignation of Bishop Jude Gerald Paulraj A of Palayamkottai, Tamil Nadu, and appointed Archbishop Antony Pappusamy of Madurai as the diocese’s apostolic administrator.

Bishop Kallupura has been the Buxar bishop since June 21, 2009. Earlier, he had served Patna arch-diocese as pastor in various parishes.

While Cardinal George Alencherry still retains the title of major archbishop of the Syro-Malabar Archdiocese of Ernakulam-Angamaly, Pope Francis named an apostolic administrator to run the Indian archdiocese.

The Pope appointed 71-year-old Bishop Jacob Manathodath of Palghat to be the apostolic administrator “sede plena,” or effective head, of the archdiocese, said a Vatican press release on June 22.

“It shows a grave situation of ethical violations and the inability of the synod to effectively settle the issue,” he told ucanews.com.

In 2011, Alencherry, now 75, was selected by the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church’s decision-making Synod and confirmed by the Pope to be major archbishop and head of the Eastern Church. Pope Benedict XVI elevated him to the College of Cardinals in 2012.

Ucanews.com reported a letter from Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, prefect of the Vatican’s Congregation for Eastern Churches, said, “There remains the grave and worrying” situation of division between priests, auxiliary bishops and Cardinal George Alencherry.

World Yoga Day proved a big hit across India on June 21 as Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged the nation to revel in and promote its culture but it was largely ignored in Christian-dominated Mizoram State. While many Catholics in other parts of the country joined the mass group exercises organized that on June 21, some religious groups in the north-eastern state dubbed the event “anti-Christian,” according to local media.

“Ours is a Christian state. We cannot accept yoga because we see it as a part of Hinduism,” said Vanlalruata, president of the People’s Representation for Identity and Status of Mizoram (Prism), a newly floated political party. “We refuse to practise yoga and we will keep opposing this celebration in our state,” he added.

Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu on June 28 announced that his government would repeal the anti-conversion law the north-eastern Indian state passed 40 years ago.

“The anti-conversion law could undermine secularism and is probably targeted towards Christians,” said Khandu while assuring he would introduce steps to repeal the draconian law in the next assembly session to prevent its misuse in future by irresponsible officials.

Khandu was speaking at the tenth death anniversary of Prem Bhai, a Benedictine missionary who is considered the “Saint Paul” of Arunachal Pradesh. He endured repeated arrest, imprisonment, beatings and wore disguises to evangelize in the north-eastern state. Born Henry Gaikwad in the western Indian State of Maharashtra, the missionary was popularly known as Prem Bhai (loving brother). He died on June 28, 2008, in Colombo, Sri Lanka, following a heart attack the previous day. He was 45 at the time of his death. He was buried in Banderdewa, a village near the Arunachal Pradesh capital of Itanagar.

The chief minister said although he had not heard of Prem Bhai earlier, the testimonies of many about the Christian missionary’s efforts to promote communal harmony, peace and love among the people of Arunachal Pradesh have impressed him.

Khandu, 38, expressed concern about the persecution Christians faced because of the infamous law against conversion in Arunachal Pradesh, especially when the state was a territory directly ruled by the federal government. The Arunachal Pradesh Freedom of Religion Act or the Anti-Conversion Law was passed by the state Assembly in 1978. It says no person should convert or attempt to convert, either directly or otherwise, any person from one religious faith to any other religious faith by the use of force or by inducement or by any fraudulent means nor should any person abet any such conversion.

The chief minister expressed surprise that the discriminatory law against Christians had not been repealed, even though it was not being enforced. He said that in the future there could be a chief minister, chief secretary or director general of police who could have malicious intent, to misuse the Act. “Any misuse of the law leading to torture of people could trigger large-scale violence in the state and could break Arunachal into pieces,” the chief minister warned.