National

Top court’s education order upsets Indian Church officials

India’s Supreme Court has allowed the government to control the appointment of teachers in educational institutions run by religious minorities, a ruling Church leaders say violates their right to manage such institutions. The country’s top court on Jan. 6 upheld a West Bengal State law that allowed a government commission to screen candidates to be appointed […]

Hindu group opposes Christian president of Marathi literature festival

Veteran poet N.D. Mahanor on January 9 opened All India Marathi Literature Festival amid tight security in view of threats from right-wing Hindu organizations. The groups had warned Mahanor, a Padma Shri and Sahitya Academy awardee—not to inaugurate the festival as a Christian priest, Father Francis D’Britto, presided over the festival. The priest is a […]

CAA: India’s Church leaders warn against dividing country

India’s leading cardinal has called the country’s controversial Citizen Amendment Act “a cause of great anxiety for all citizens.” Cardinal Oswald Gracias, the Archbishop of Bombay and president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI), made his comments on Jan. 8 at a ceremony in Benaulim, Goa, inaugurating a new extension of the secretariat […]

Anti-citizenship law protests spread across India

Demonstrators clashed with police for a third day in Delhi on Dec. 17 as protests against a divisive citizenship law spread to universities across the country, raising fears of widespread unrest. Rights activists and Christian leaders say the protests began to spread after the federal government led by the pro-Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) attempted […]

China announces new crackdown on religious freedom

China will enforce new restrictions on religious groups, organizations, meetings, and other related events starting on February 1. The country’s state-controlled media announced the new policy on Dec. 30, after Chinese authorities moved to further suppress Catholics in the Archdiocese of Fuzhou who are refusing to join the state-run Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association. According to […]

Feature film honours Italian missionary to Bangladesh

A new feature film pays tribute to Father Marino Rigon, an Italian missionary lauded for his outstanding contributions to education, socioeconomic development, culture and literature as well as Bangladesh’s independence struggle during his more than six decades of service. The Father: An Untold Story is a joint venture between Bangladesh and Italy. More than 200 actors […]

Row over Syro-Malabar Mass resurfaces

The question whether the celebrant should face the congregation (westward) or eastward during Mass, a bone of contention in the Syro-Malabar Church for several decades, is back in focus again. On the agenda of the Church Synod meeting at St Thomas Mount in Kochi, headquarters of the Church, from January 7 are possible changes to […]

BJP president meets Christian pastors on CAA

Bharatiya Janata Party president Jagat Prakash Nadda has tried to get the support of Christian community to the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). The former student of St Xavier’s School in Patna on January 7 met with around 15 pastors of various Christian denominations in the national capital. BJP vice president Dushyant Gautam and Tom […]

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Youth taught to use social media to become Good Samaritans

Pakistan’s oldest priest passes away at 97