India’s Supreme Court has admitted a plea seeking a direction to end the rising attacks against Christians and their institutions in the county.
A division bench of Justice Surya Kant and Justice J.B. Pardiwala directed the court registry to list it on a priority basis for July 11, the day courts reopen after the summer vacation.
Archbishop Peter Machado of Bangalore Archdiocese in Karnataka state, the National Solidarity Forum and the Evangelical Fellowship of India filed the petition.
On average, 45 to 50 violent attacks take place against Christian institutions and priests every month throughout India. However, 57 attacks against community members including their institutions were recorded in May, said senior advocate Colin Gonsalves while appearing for the petitioners.
Odisha chief minister calls on Pope Francis
Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on June 22 met Pope Francis in the Vatican.
“It has been an absolute pleasure meeting His Holiness Pope Francis in Vatican City. Thanked him for the warm audience and wished him good health and long life,” Patnaik said on his social media post.
NEW SUPERIOR GENERAL FOR ST PAULS
The XIth General Chapter of the Society of St Paul held at Ariccia, Italy, has elected Fr Domenico Soliman (56 years) as the next Superior General of the Congregation, and the 8th successor to Blessed James Alberione, its Founder and first Superior General. Fr Soliman was elected to the highest office of the Congregation on Wednesday, June 15, 2022.
Caritas India awarded with excellence awards
Caritas India, the social development arm of the Catholic bishops in India, has been awarded for its excellent work in humanitarian aid and disaster risk reduction, community health, climate-adaptive agriculture and food sovereignty.
Book on nuns’ valiant struggle against archdiocese released
A book on the unusual struggle of a group of Catholic nuns against an archdiocese and their congregation was launched June 26 during a virtual function.
The book, “My Prophetic Struggle, The Narakkal Story,’ written jointly by Carmelite Sister Annie Jaise and feminist theologian Kochurani Abraham, was released by Sister Elsa Muttathu, the national secretary of the Conference of Religious of India. The first copy was received by Jesuit Father T K John, a veteran theologian.
Nun who worked with street children murdered in Haiti
An Italian missionary who dedicated herself to working with street children in Haiti for more than 20 years, was murdered.
Sister Luisa Dell’Orto, a Little Sister of the Gospel of Saint Charles de Foucauld, was shot during a robbery attempt on June 25.
Indian Catholics slam silence over Nigerian massacre
Catholics in India have questioned the silence of the global community over the brutal mass killing of Christians in southwest Nigeria recently and want it to take a strong stand against such atrocities. Scores of Catholics belonging to the Catholic Congress based in Kerala state in southern India staged a rally in Kottayam district, a Christian stronghold, and condemned the massacre.On June 5, Pentecost Sunday, gunmen believed to be Islamic extremists associated with Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) entered St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church in Owo, Ondo state. They fired weapons, detonated explosives and killed at least 40 people, government agencies said. “We appeal to the global community to stand up against the mass murders in Nigeria,” said Catholic Congress president P.P. Joseph of Changanaserry Archdio-cese. “Unless the global conscious rises up against such murders, humanity will not survive in this world.”
Archbishop Joseph Perumthottam of Changanassery Archdiocese in Kerala wrote an editorial for Deepika (Light), a church-run daily, in Malayalam, the official language of the southern state.
“When it comes to the killing and persecution of Christians, certain media houses maintain silence. What sort of media ethics is this?” he wrote in a June 13 article.
The prelate claimed that in 2021 alone at least 6,000 Christians were slaughtered in Nigeria by Islamic terrorist groups such as Boko Haram among others. Since 2009, at least 40,000 Christians were killed by Boko Haram in Nigeria, he added.
The prelate also expressed concern over the spread of Islamic terror in other African countries and other parts of the world, noting that Christians are “the worst victims of persecution” and questioned why global powers could not protect human beings from the onslaught of Islamic terrorists.
Opposition to reinstatement of Indian bishop cleared of rape
A civil society group assisting Catholic nuns in distress has opposed a reported move to reinstate Bishop Franco Mulakkal to his former post after being acquitted of rape charges by a trial court.Save Our Sisters (SOS) in a June 14 statement urged Catholic authorities “to reconsider a possible attempt to bring back Bishop Mulakkal” while referring to news reports about his resuming pastoral duties in Jalandhar Diocese in northern India. The media reports appeared after a visit by Archbishop Leopoldo Girelli, the Vatican’s apostolic nuncio in India, to the diocese on June 11-12.
“It is true Archbishop Girelli has confirmed to priests that the Vatican [has] accepted the Indian court order that exonerated Bishop Mulakkal from charges of rape,” said Bishop Agnelo Rufino Gracias, apostolic administrator of Jalandhar, although he dismissed the media reports.There was no discussion on the reinstatement of Bishop Mulakkal, he told UCA News. “It is normal practice that the Vatican accepts the ruling of a court in any country where it works,” Bishop Gracias said. “There was nothing more to be attached or attributed to it.” SOS, however, said the Vatican is likely to act solely on the report and advice of the apostolic nuncio, who is a Mulakkal supporter
Attacks on Christians increasing in India
An interdenominational rights group in India’s national capital has demanded the federal government and judiciary intervene immediately to check the rapid rise in incidents of violence, coercion and false arrests of Christians.
The New Delhi-based United Christian Forum (UCF) has cited 207 cases of persecution in 2022 to back the demand. It documented 505 cases in 2021. “This data flies in the face of statements by government functionaries and leaders of the ruling party at the center and in the states that there is no persecution and that there are only a few stray incidents by fringe elements,” said UCF national president Michael Williams in a press statement on June 13. William said it was ironic that the culprits, many of whom even film the acts of vandalism and physical violence on unarmed women and men, dare to defy the law with such impunity while the pastors and faithful gathered for prayers are arrested on false charges of religious conversion. “In all such cases, the police are either mute spectators or active participants. Despite our appeals to senior officials and administrators, the police have failed to follow protocol, rules and conduct investigations,” the press statement added.
Based on the data collected from its national helpline number 1800-208-4545, the UCF said as many as 57 cases of persecution against Christians were recorded in May alone. The most acute situation prevailed in UP and MP states in the north, Chhattisgarh in the east and Karnataka in the south. “The data collected so far wasn’t exhaustive as many incidents did not come on our radar and hence aren’t recorded” There were 40 incidents recorded in January, 35 in February, 33 in March and 40 in April.
Christians condemn article defaming India’s first layman saint
Catholics have criticized a pro-Hindu publication for calling Devasahayam Pillai, the first Indian layman to be declared a saint, “a thief who was shot dead for his crime.”
The objectionable writing questioning the recent canonization titled “Devasahayam Pillai and Holy Sins” is published in the June 10 issue of Kesari, a Malayalam-language weekly known as a mouthpiece of the Hindu nationalist Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) in southern India’s Kerala state.
The three-page article by writer Murali Parapuram claimed that all the reasons cited by the Catholic Church for the saint-hood are totally false because there was no spiritual transformation in him.
It further described Saint Devasahayam as “a victim of religious conversion activities carried out by Christian missionaries” and charged the Church with “distorting history through fraudulent documents to promote their religious interests rather than any other concerns.”
“The RSS magazine is creating mistrust and confusion among the people and thereby whipping up communal discord,” said Father Michael Pulickal, secretary of the social harmony and vigilance commission of Kerala Catholic Bishops’ Council.