Police in eastern Indian Odisha state have started probing an armed robbery at a Catholic seminary that left two Catholic priests assaulted and injured and valuables looted. A gang of nine suspected robbers barged into Carmel Niketan minor seminary in Charbati of Kuchinda in the state in the early hours of May 23, said Father Thomas Bose Velassery, the regional vicar of the Order of Discalced Carmelites. The seminary is managed by the religious order. He said during the attack, two priests – Silvin K. S., 40, and Linus George, 90 – who look after the seminary, were tied, assaulted, and their phones snatched. During the attack, the seminary was mostly deserted as students were away on summer holidays, he added. Odisha is also known for the persecution of Christians by Hindu hardliners. In 2008, Odisha’s Kandhamal district witnessed one of the worst anti-Christian violence that left at least 39 Christians killed and as many as 70,000 became homeless, according to official government reports. Other reports said the death toll was 100, and some 40 Christian women were sexually assaulted by a Hindu mob. At least 100 churches and between 5,000 and 6,000 houses were destroyed in the violence.
Spanish bishops speak out after leaks of their meeting with Leo XIV
The executive committee of the Spanish Bishops’ Conference, (CEE, by its Spanish acronym) meeting in Madrid this week, issued an official statement regarding the leaks
