National

Mother Teresa award for Denmark’s green initiatives

Denmark and its Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen have been honoured with the Mother Teresa Memorial Award for Social Justice for the year 2021. India’s Harmony Foundation, which instituted the award in memory of Saint Mother Teresa in 2005, said it acknowledged Denmark as “one of the nations in the world which lives in harmony with […]

Court stays forcible shifting of children from Church orphanage

The Madhya Pradesh High Court has stayed the forcible shifting of orphans from St. Francis Orphanage in Sagar, a town in the central Indian state. “Shifting of 44 orphan children from St. Francis orphanage was stopped after the Jabalpur bench of Madhya Pradesh High Court passed a stay order,” says a statement issued January 7 […]

India sees ‘record level of violence against Christians’

India witnessed a record 486 incidents of violence against Christians during 2021, which ended on a violent note for the community that makes up only 2.3 percent of the country’s over 1.3 billion population. Data collected by the United Christian Forum (UCF) showed an upward trend in such violent incidents over the last few years […]

WhatsApp group’s Christmas gift helps Tripura tribals fight winter

Gaspar Delerock and his wife Shanti in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu donated blankets for the poor in Tripura, northeast, as part of celebrating their wedding’s silver jubilee. Ammu Urimainathan sent her contribution forgoing her Christmas dress and Joseph Raj from Pondicherry shared his meager money left in his bank account. These people […]

Hindu cremated in parish cemetery, Kerala cm applauds

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has app-lauded a Catholic parish for allowing the cremation of Hindu Covid victim in its cemetery. “The action of Edathua church to allow the pyre of a Covid -19 patient, who was not a member of the parish, is laudable,” Vijayan told a press conference on May 27 while briefing […]

Hindu activists intensify attacks on Indian Christian prayer meets

Hindu activists in India are stepping up disruption of Sunday prayer services under the guise of exposing forced religious conversions. Two such incidents were reported on Nov. 28. In national capital Delhi, activists of Bajrang Dal (Brigade of Hindu deity Hanuman) vandalized a newly inaugurated church in the Dwarka area. Minakshi Singh, general secretary of […]

Bengaluru Christians rally against anti-conversion bill

The United Christian Forum of Karnataka on December 4 organized a peace rally in Karnataka capital of Bengaluru against a proposed anti-conver-sion bill and survey on Christian institutions in the southern Indian state. The rally was initiated by the Archdiocese of Bangalore in collaboration with all Christian denominations and other Catholic dioceses in the state […]

Indian tribal people up the ante on separate religion code

Indian tribal people, including some who are now Christians, assembled in the national capital New Delhi to press their demand for a separate Sarna religion code in the upcoming census. The followers of the Sarna religion are predominantly of tribal origin and claim to be nature worshippers. They have been demanding recognition for it as a […]

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

Goans oppose tourism project near 16th century basilica