A refusal to compromise by Hindu-majority Meitei and pre-dominantly Christian tribal groups have dampened hopes of esta-blishing a lasting peace in India’s sectarian conflict-torn Manipur state, Christian leaders say. The latest round of talks between Federal Home Ministry officials and a 19-member delegation, mostly from Meitei-run civil society organizations, failed to produce a roadmap for peace in the north-eastern state. The talks were held in the national capital, Delhi, on June 30.
Earlier on June 9, a five-member delegation representing Kuki-Zo tribal groups held a meeting with Home Ministry officials. These and other peace talks involving federal government officials and the warring Manipur groups followed a two-year-old deadly Meitei-tribal conflict that claimed more than 260 lives and displaced about 60,000 people, mostly tribal Christians. During the meetings, the Meiteis insisted on maintaining the “territorial integrity of the state of Manipur” contrary to the stand of the tribals who want to “divide the state with a separate administration” for them. Christian leaders say both the Meitei and tribals tend to “stick to their guns,” which makes peace elusive. “As long as both sides continue to stick to their demands, we do not know how long it will take to restore peace,” one Church leader told, expressing frustration over the stalemate.

A major seminary in the western Indian state of Goa has made its 21 theology students work in farms so that they learn better what is taught in classes. The students of the second, third- and fourth-year theology classes of the Pilar Theological Institute spent the afternoons of July 5 and 6 cultivating paddy and vegetables on a two-acre land owned by the Society of Pilar. “It helps the seminarians gain a deeper understanding of what they learn in class; to have a more contextualised approach to theology,” explained Father John Bennet, director of studies of the seminary, also known as the All India Mission Seminary of the Society of Pilar.
“This exposure can be particularly valuable for the future clergy who may be called to serve where agriculture is a central part of life,” he told Matters India July 7. This way of doing theology, Father Bennet added, emphasizes the importance of the specific cultural, social, and historical context in which Christian faith is understood and lived.
“It acknowledges that theological reflection is not done in a vacuum but is shaped by the unique experiences, perspectives, and challenges of a particular community.”
The students belonged to the dioceses of Dumka and Daltonganj in Jharkhand, Purnia and Patna in Bihar, Krishnagar in West Bengal, besides the Pilar theology students.

The Catholic Church in Kerala has launched a dedicated mental health ministry to help communities respond to increasing psychological and emotional challenges, including substance abuse, suicidal tendencies, and family-related issues. The initiative, led by the Catholic Mental Health Ministry (CMHM) under the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI) Office for Healthcare, was formally introduced through a seminar held at the Alappuzha Pastoral Centre.  The half-day event gathered mental health professionals, clergy, and Church workers in a collective effort to promote healing and support. Titled ”Manassinu Oru Karuthal” (A Care for the Mind), the program aimed “to empower individuals and communities” in addressing pressing mental health concerns through a “collective and compassionate approach.

A state court in central India has granted permission to conduct an annual Christian convention, protecting the right to practice faith despite opposition from the Madhya Pradesh state administration. “We feel relieved and happy,” Pastor Kamesh Solanki said after the Madhya Pradesh state High Court admonished the state officials on June 16 not to deny permission to the convention on “frivolous grounds.” Solanki, who leads an independent church, petitioned the court to challenge the Khargone district administration’s ongoing refusal to conduct a three-day annual Christian convention that began in 2010. Since the convention, scheduled for May 16-18, could not be conducted, the court instructed the petitioner to file a new application with a revised schedule. When “such an application is filed, the respondent (district administration) shall allow the same and also provide proper security as and when required, and shall not reject the same on frivolous grounds,” the court ruled. Solanki said the permission was denied, stating that the convention, named Atmik Jagrati Mahotsav (Spiritual Awareness Program), could not be conducted due to the India-Pakistan tension.

Christians have welcomed a court order calling on authorities to approve requests for prayer gatherings in Uttar Pradesh, the most populous Indian state, amid a rise in persecution against Christians. A two-judge bench of the Allahabad High Court, the top court in the northern state, directed state authorities to “consider” representations from Christians for holding religious prayer meetings and “decide as per the law” after taking opinion from the local police, on June 20. The judges said that they found that the “holding of religious prayers is not violative of any law that has been shown to us”. “Under the constitution every citizen has a right to practice and perform his faith and religious congregation that is, of course, subject to public order,” they said. The court asked the petitioners to file fresh applications to the state authorities which they should “consider and decide” as per the law by taking opinion from the local police. The order came in response to petitions from different Christian groups accusing government officials of denying them permission to hold routine prayer meetings. “I was forced to approach the top court after the local police did not allow me to hold a prayer meeting on the premises of my legally registered society,” Pastor Sukesh Kumar, one of the petitioners, told UCA News on June 23. “The risk involved in holding such a prayer meeting without the consent of police is too high as they level false charges of religious conversion,” Kumar said. It is common for police to arrest and jail prayer leaders and others without bothering with “a preliminary probe,” he said. Getting bail or quashing the case become tiresome and troublesome, and it takes many years and lot of time and money to get the name cleared, he alleged. Seeking protection from the top court is “the best way” and Christians are glad the court granted “required relief,” he added.

Indian Church leaders have urged the government of northern Uttarakhand state to boost safety following several air accidents that have killed Hindu pilgrims in less than two months. In the latest tragedy, a helicopter carrying pilgrims from Kedarnath in the Rudraprayag district crashed on June 15, killing all seven people on board including the pilot. Following initial investigations, the authorities said the helicopter fell victim to bad weather in the Himalayan region. The tragedy prompted a call by Indian bishops for the state government to improve safety measures. “The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI) expresses its deepest condolences to the families of pilgrims who lost their lives in the recent helicopter crash during Kedarnath Yatra. May the departed souls rest in peace,” conference spokesman Father Robinson Rodrigues told. “We are perturbed by the series of helicopter accidents in a short span, carrying pilgrims. The CBCI urges the government to investigate these incidents and take immediate measures to ensure the safety and security of our Hindu brothers and sisters, undertaking this sacred journey,” Rodrigues said.

Christian leaders in India’s strife-torn Manipur state have expressed hope that peace will gradually be restored after authorities seized large caches of arms and ammunition from areas dominated by the Hindu majority Meitei ethnic group. The seizure of arms “gives us an assurance that the state administration under the direct control of the federal government is serious about restoring peace,” an indigenous Christian leader told, on condition of anonymity. Security forces seized 328 weapons and more than 9,000 assorted rounds of ammunition from Meitei-dominated districts in the Imphal Valley on June 13-14. The state has experienced a bitter armed ethnic conflict between the Meitei people and the Christian-dominated Kuku-Zo tribal group over the past two years. It has claimed at least 260 lives and displaced 60,000 people, mostly Christians. Christian leaders say the radical Meitei group Arambai Tenggol looted weapons and ammunition from government stores, including police stations, and used them to unleash violence against Christians. According to reports, more than 5,000 weapons such as machine guns, AK 47, and 406 Carbines were among the looted weaponry, besides some 60,000 rounds of ammunition. Critics also say the previous state government, run by the pro-Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), tacitly supported the Hindu violence since it began on May 3, 2023, after Meitei people attacked a Kuki protest march that opposed a move to grant tribal status to Meiteis. The state was brought under federal rule on Feb. 13 after the then-chief minister, N. Biren Singh, was forced to resign due to his failure to contain the violence and restore peace.

The Catholic bishops in India have offered condolences and expressed solidarity with the victims and the families of an Air India flight that crashed on June 12, shortly after taking off from the western city of Ahmedabad. At least 241 of the 242 people on board were killed when the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner crashed in a residential area, just outside Ahmedabad Airport in the state’s commercial capital. “The death toll may increase” as several on the ground and nearby buildings are affected, G.S. Malik, Ahmedabad Police Commissioner, told the media. The only surviving passenger, Vishwas Kumar Ramesh, a 40-year-old British citizen of Indian origin, is recovering in a hospital. “The entire Catholic Community of Gujarat is aghast,” Archbishop Thomas Macwan of Gandhinagar, based in the state capital, told UCA News on June 12. He said he was in his office, barely 20 kilometres away from the crash site, “when the news came in, and my heart was crying.” The prelate said he also learnt that five to six Indian Christians, including a recently married Christian couple from a village in the Ahmedabad diocese, had died in the crash. Macwan said he had known Gujarat state’s former chief minister Vijay Rupani, who tragically died in the mishap, and described him as “a good man.”

Some 10,000 Catholics gathered in a tiny village parish in southern India recently to witness the official declaration of a Eucharist miracle, billed as the first such Vatican-approved miracle in India. The May 31 event came more than 11 years after the miracle — the face of Christ appearing in the holy host during a Eucharistic celebration — occurred at Christ the King Church in Vilakkannur parish, in Thalassery archdiocese on Nov. 15, 2013. The Vatican approved the miracle two months ago, following a theological analysis and scientific evaluation, which allowed the archdiocese to install the miraculous host in the parish. The official declaration came after prolonged studies, both theological and scientific.
In March, the Dicastery of Doctrine of Faith declared that “nothing prevented the declaration of the Vilakkannur Eucharist as an extraordinary event.” The incident was first studied by a doctrinal committee of the Syro-Malabar Church, and its report was submitted in December 2013. Following further studies, the Dicastery of the Doctrine of Faith in 2018 requested that the consecrated host be sent to the Vatican through the nuncio for closer examination. In September 2023, the Vatican sought to conduct scientific studies on the host to establish that no foreign substance was present, forming the image of Jesus on it. Following the Vatican’s instructions, the host was taken to Bangalore’s Christ University for scientific studies in January 2024. A team of theologians and scientists at the university, which is run by the Carmelites of Mary Immaculate priests, conducted the studies. The studies in India and abroad “have established that the sacred image was formed by the same substance as that of the host and there is no other trace of any other material,” archdiocesan chancellor Mutta-thukunnel told local media.