Christmas Celebratory Again In Holy Land Amid Ongoing War; Patriarch Urges Pilgrims To Return
Vatican: Former Choir Director, Manager Convicted Of Embezzlement, Abuse Of Office
Christians in Aleppo feel an uneasy calm amid rebel takeover of Syrian city
Kathmandu synodality forum: Indigenous people, ‘not the periphery but at the heart of the Church’
Indian Cardinal opposes anti-conversion law in poll-bound state
12,000 gather as Goa starts exposition of St. Francis Xavier relics
I have read the reply given by Archbishop Kuriakose Bharanikulangara (Light of Truth 1-15th February) to a question about the prospects of Pope Francis visiting India in the near future. Having been a seasoned Vatican diplomat, Archbihop Kuriakose has given a diplomatic reply saying that one cannot write off such a visit in the future. Being the Head of State of the Vatican which has diplomatic relations with India with an Indian Ambassador to the Vatican and a Vatican Nuncio (Ambassador) in New Delhi, State Protocol requires an invitation from The President of India to the Pope to visit India. Of course, if it is a Pastoral visit, it ceases to be a State visit. The fact of the matter is, to the best of my knowledge, such an invitation has not been extended to the Pope by the President of India during the BJP regime. Pope Francis has visited other countries in the region and I am not sure whether his flight has overflown Indian territory. It would have been a great act of courtesy, if the government had even sounded out the Vatican State Secretariat about such a possibility, but it did not. By nature of things, it will not be possible for an RSS/BJP government to ignore its own unfavourable and at times hostile attitude towards Christians in India. After all, the RSS does not consider Christians in India to be one hundred percent Indians. The present RSS Chief said recently that all Christians in India are Hindus. I remember listening to Prof Balraj Madok, one of the Founde
The solo Indian flag that made an appearance among the vast swathe of Trump supporters storming the Capitol building in Washington D.C. recently, caught the attention of many. It was even more of a surprise when it was revealed that a Malayali Christian na-med Vinson Palathingal was responsible for it. However, truth be told, Palathingal is just one of the many Malayali Christians who are fervent advocates of the Christo-racist nationalism represented and championed by Donald Trump and his band of supporters. For those wondering how an exclusivist White supremacist anti-Muslim ideology and rhetoric that underpins Trumpian politics appeals to these migrants and their ilk from the Global South, the answer may be found in the latter’s own social location within the Kerala society in India. Beyond the general term Christian, there lies a more nuanced identifier for the community that people like Palathingal hail from – Syrian Christians. A traditionally privileged and landed community, they claim their origin from the proselytisation mission of Jesus Christ’s disciple St. Thomas in the first century CE. There are visible tendencies among the Syrians, who are also called St. Thomas Christians, to go back and revive what they imagine to be their Syriac liturgical tradition. The most popular myth about their origin is that they hail from Brahmins who were proselytised by St Thomas. While inquiring into the veracity of th
‘We must reject the culture in which facts themselves are manipulated and even manufactured,’ said Joseph Biden, the new president of the United States. He had every reason to say so. His predecessor, Donald Trump, had made 30,573 false or misleading claims as president. Nearly half came in his final year. “Over time, Trump unleashed his falsehoods with increasing frequency and ferocity, often by the scores in a single campaign speech or tweetstorm. What began as a relative trickle of misrepresentations, including 10 on his first day and five on the second, built into a torrent through Trump’s final days as he frenetically spread wild theories that the coronavirus pandemic would disappear “like a miracle” and that the presidential election had been stolen — the claim that inspired Trump supporters to attack Congress on Jan. 6 and prompted his second impeachment.’ (Glenn Kessler in the Washington Post 24.01.2021). The irony of it all, 74 million Americans believed Trump and voted for him. And we know the US is no mean country. It claims to be a great nation. Two centuries of democracy, almost totally literate people and the richest country in the world. Why would so many Americans believe in the false claims of Trump? Reality is no different in other countries across the globe. In every country, political leaders (and leaders in other domains too) lie at will and people soak them in. So the crucial ques
For any organization, movement or institution, the passing away of its founder is a jolting moment yet graced with gratitude for the vision transmitted and realized in the course of its trajectory. The members of the Indian Theological Association (ITA) share these sentiments at the demise of Rev. Fr Constantine Manalel, CMI, its founder and guide on the path of its significant growth. “The ITA came into existence because of the creative action of this great visionary” says its former president Jacob Parappally MSFS. “Fr Constantine challenged theologians to dialogue with the religious, social, cultural, economic and political contexts of our country while theologizing.” The launching story of Indian Theological Association has been recorded by Kuncheria Pathil, CMI as follows: ‘In the post-Vatican II scenario, it was Rev. Joseph Constantine Manalel who proposed the idea of forming an association of Indian theologians. In 1971 he had already published a theology journal, named Jeevadhara in two editions, English and Malayalam, for which he had formed a society, called, “Jeevadhara Theological Society.’ On August 28, 1975, he convened a meeting of the above society where for the first time he proposed the idea of forming an all India association of Indian theologians. The period after Vatican II was, indeed, an extraordinary spring time for the Church in India. After elaborate preparations the “Church in
It is 72 years since India promulgated its secular-democratic constitution. The nation observed the anniversary on Jan. 26, just as in previous years, with a military parade in New Delhi. But an uneasy disquiet continues across the country. Over the years, the parade added cultural tableaux from its provinces. Uttar Pradesh state’s cultural tableau this year displayed the model of the Ram temple being built in Ayodhya town at a spot where an ancient mosque stood until 1992 when Hindu radicals demolished it. The temple has political connotations for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which has vowed to turn India into a nation of Hindu hegemony. The pro-Hindu party came to the national mainstream promising the temple in Ayodhya, their Hindu Lord Ram’s birthplace. Almost three decades after the demolition of the mosque, a major BJP promise is getting fulfilled. The government proudly displayed it at the parade celebrating the anniversary of the nation’s secular constitution. That’s the growth of Indian democracy! True to the character of any democracy, there is a paradox in India’s polity today. While the Modi government returned to power in 2019 with an enhanced mandate and his BJP winning provincial polls, the country is gradually turning into a grieving and protesting nation. Get it Now Are common people really happy under the Modi administration? Various sections of people, including religious minorities and farmers and teachers i
