From The States

Northern Kerala gets first basilica

Thousands of people were present when the Vatican raised an 18th century shrine in Mahe as a basilica, marking a historic milestone in Kerala’s northern region. During a Mass on February 24, Bishop Varghese Chakkalakal of Calicut on February 24 announced that the Vatican has given the new status to St. Teresa’s Church in Mahe […]

Discalced Carmelite appointed Kurnool’s sixth bishop

Pope Francis on February 27 appointed Father Johannes Gorantla as the sixth bishop of Kurnool diocese in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. This appointment was made public at noon in Rome and its corresponding time in India on the bishop-elect’s 50th birthday.

Vietnamese communist takes ‘road to Damascus’ to become Catholic

Ho Ca Dau is taking catechism classes to be baptized into the Catholic Church after having helped persecute Christians for nearly a decade, treating them as enemies of communism. The 27-year-old from the Bru-Van Kieu ethnic group believes his conversion is akin to that of St. Paul, who “persecuted Christians but fell to the ground […]

Assam Christians criticize state government’s “misguided, misleading” plans

Christian Churches in Assam, northeastern India, have criticized the state government’s “misguided and misleading” statement equating healing with proselytization. The Assam Christian Forum (ACF), an umbrella body of all Churches, has also rejected a radical Hindu group’s demand for the removal of Christian symbols from missionary schools in the state. The group, Kutumba Surakshya Parishad […]

Karnataka’s first Syro-Malabar diocese celebrates silver jubilee

Option for the poor and the marginalized is the only mission of the Syro-Malabar Church in India, asserted Major Archbishop Raphael Thattil while inaugurating the silver jubilee celebration of Belthangady diocese in Karnataka. Belthangady is the first Syro-Malabar diocese in the southern Indian state, created in 1999, that caters to the migrated Catholics from Kerala. […]

Indian dioceses to educate members on AI, digital revolution

The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India, the first episcopal body in the world to study Artificial Intelligence (AI) seriously, has asked the country’s 174 dioceses to educate their more than 20 million members to responsibly use digital tools.

School girl dies by suicide, nun sent to jail

A Catholic nun has been remanded in judicial custody in connection with the death by suicide of a school girl in the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh. A court in Ambikapur, a major city in Sarguja district, on February 7 remanded Carmelite Sister Mercy to jail after police charged her with abetting the suicide of […]

Indian bishops review Rome synod, Manipur, challenges facing Christians

The second day of the General Body Meeting of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI) on February 1 saw the participants the review the outcome of the Rome Synod on Synodality, Manipur crisis and situation of Christians across the country. Cardinal Oswald Gracias, who played a pivotal role in the Synod in Rome in […]

Eviction-facing Indian Catholics to fight Muslim charity’s claims

Goans oppose tourism project near 16th century basilica