National

Catholic priest arrested in Tamil Nadu for hate speech

A Catholic priest in Tamil Nadu’s Kanniyakumari district was arrested July 24 for spreading hate and enmity between religious groups. Father George Ponnaiah, parish priest from Panavilai, triggered a row by allegedly making disparaging remarks about ‘Bharat Mata’ and Hindu religion. The Kuzhithurai diocese condemned his comments made on July 18. Addressing a meeting at […]

Muslim businessman aids church construction in Abu Dhabi

An Indian Muslim billionaire businessman, based in United Arab Emirates, has come forward to help build a Protestant church in its capital city of Abu Dhabi. Yusuff Ali Musaliam Veettil Abdul Kader, popularly known as M A Yusuff Ali on July 23 donated 500,000 dirhams (US$136,147 or 10,138,771 Indian rupees) for the construction of a […]

Indian bishop condemns Pegasus spying scandal

Media reports claim that Israel-made spyware Pegasus was believed to have been used to track more than 300 Indian phone numbers including those of journalists, politicians, government officials and rights activists. The Israeli cyber weapon company NSO Group was also fined in 2019 for hacking phones of around 1,400 users around the world, including 121 […]

Delhi archdiocese gets new auxiliary bishop

Pope Francis on July 16 appointed Fr Deepak Valerian Tauro, rector of St Albert’s College in Ranchi, as the auxiliary bishop of the archdiocese of Delhi.

NIA objects: High Court withdraws appreciation for Fr Swamy

The Bombay High Court bench on July 23 withdrew its oral observations praising the late Father Stan Swamy and even appreciating his work for society. The bench of Justices Sambhaji Shinde and Nijamoo-din Jamadar withdrew their co-mments after the National In-vestigations Agency (NIA) took strong objection to the “personal comments of the bench.” The bench […]

Hindu activists threaten Christian pastors in India

Hindu activists in the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh have disrupted a prayer service and threatened two Christian pastors in the space of three days for alleged religious conversion. In the first incident on July 4, Pastor Firoz Bagh was conducting a prayer service at his house in Raipur, the state capital, when 30-40 Hindus […]

Survey highlights hierarchical exploitation of nuns in India

Sacramental blackmail, clergy sexual abuse, clericalism and property disputes are among challenges facing Catholic women religious in India, an international webinar was told. The July 10 meeting organized by Voices of Faith, a Rome-based international network, discussed the findings of a Conference of Religious India survey conducted among the leaders of the women religious in […]

Indian Christians suffer 154 acts of violence this year

A human rights group that monitors atrocities against Christians in India says it has confirmed 154 incidents of violence in 17 states in the first half of the year. The New Delhi-based United Christian Forum (UCF) said that perhaps a new ministry of cooperation may bring a better understanding of other faiths, especially among those […]

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

Goans oppose tourism project near 16th century basilica