The Lok Sabha, India's lower house of Parliament, will debate the contentious Waqf (Amendment) Bill on Wednesday. The bill has been met with strong opposition from several parties who claim it is unconstitutional. The government, however, insists the bill aims to improve the management of Waqf properties in India by bringing transparency and efficiency.
The Catholic Bishops Conference of India wants the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government to enact legislation to make pre-marital AIDS tests compulsory.
'The way our President was greeted, that itself shows how far India has come.' 'People were aware of who she is, people know who our prime minister is.' 'Everybody knows India now and everybody respects India.'
A group of nuns of Kuravilangad convent in Kottayam district of Kerala, who have been standing with the survivor in her fight, were on the verge of tears when they said they were yet to believe such a verdict came out from the court and they did not know what has happened.
A day after the Kerala Catholic Bishops Council (KCBC) sought a ban on staging of the Malayalam play Kakkukali, its director Job Madathil on Tuesday accused the critics of having an agenda behind their charges and urged them to watch the drama first.
The Thalassery archdiocese of the Catholic church has condemned the "misinterpretation" of its archbishop's statement on political martyrs and said the church has a history of respecting the martyrs.
The nun had recently sought urgent intervention of the Vatican for justice and demanded the bishop's removal as the head of the Jalandhar diocese.
Police have initiated action against independent MLA P C George who had levelled derogatory charges against the victimised nun.
The papal conclave, the process to elect a new Pope, is set to begin on Wednesday, May 7, 2025, following Pope Francis' death. The event takes place within the Sistine Chapel in Vatican City and involves the College of Cardinals.
A day after the resignation of bishop Franco Mulakkal as Jalandhar bishop, 'Save Our Sisters' campaigners on Friday said the survivor nun who had levelled rape charges against him would continue her fight for justice through the legal system.
"We should understand how secularism gives birth to extremism by looking at the growth of conservative racist movements in the West. The situation of India will not be different if we fail to accept Indian secularism in its literal sense," the Bishop wrote in Church's mouthpiece Deepika.
A senior bishop of the influential Syro-Malabar Catholic Church on Thursday said instead of saying in the US that there is no discrimination in India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi should try to convince the Christians in Manipur about that.
'Senior Vatican officials were pleasantly surprised at the number of Indians who had come to witness the ceremony.'
A Kerala bishop who raised a storm following his decision to adopt a 39-year old woman as his daughter has been suspended.
Kerala Catholic Bishop Conference president Archbishop Soosa Paikam said the verdict was "painful" and would have disastrous consequences.
Pope Francis shaped the Church he led. And in death, his reforms shape his farewell.
Even as the victim-nun moved the high court to set aside the acquittal, the state government on Wednesday granted sanction for filing an appeal against the trial court's January 14, 2022 decision.
Claiming innocence, the bishop also said the complaint was "nothing but a fictional story" by the nun
The negotiations between the priests protesting against the the Synod's decision to introduce a uniform mass and a sub-committee comprising three bishops constituted by the Synod to find a way to solve the matter.
The Web portal of the Organiser, the RSS mouthpiece, published an article (withdrawn later) that the Christian community holds many acres of land, far more than Waqf property.'
Reiterating his support to Pala Bishop Joseph Kallarangatt, whose 'narcotic and love jihad' remarks had triggered a widespread controversy in the southern state, Gopi said the bishop had not spoken ill of any community.
'Somebody strong is playing a game behind the violence in Manipur.' 'It is a pre-planned attack on churches, Christian organisations and Christians.'
Only 117 of the total of 206 Cardinals of the Universal Catholic Church will be eligible to vote in the conclave to elect the 266th successor of St Peter as they are below the age of 80 years, Deputy Secretary General and Spokesman of the Kerala Catholic Bishops' Council Fr Stephen Alathara said.
The Bishop's move came ahead of his appearance before the Kerala Police team on September 19 in connection with the case.
The Maharashtra government on Monday declined to stall staging of the play 'Agnes of God', which tells the story of a nun who delivers a still-born child, as demanded by the church on the ground that it hurts the sentiments of the Christian community.
The court cancelled his bail, considering the prosecution argument that the accused was trying to delay the trial, and posted the case to August 13.
The Vatican officials had applied for visa in mid-December
Franco Mulakkal, accused of raping a nun several times between 2014 and 2016, is currently out on bail.
Granting bail, the court directed him not to leave the state till the chargesheet is read out to him on August 13 and to be present court on the dates of hearing of the case.
Sister Lucy Kalappura, one of the nuns who protested against rape-accused Bishop Franco Mulakkal, in her autobiography titled 'Karthaavinte Naamathil' (In the name of the Lord) writes that even church leaders who supported the sisters, the victims of sexual abuse, have now started supporting the accused.
Officials in Jhansi said the nuns were detained after local Bajrang Dal activists complained that two of the women were allegedly being taken forcibly for religious conversion.
Pope Benedict XVI's official representative Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor is visiting Vasai, an extended suburb of Mumbai, on Wednesday.
A top Catholic functionary arrived West Bengal's Ranaghat to express solidarity with the sister superior of a convent school, who was allegedly gang-raped on Saturday.
'Religion must not and cannot be the basis for a survey,' says Father Babu Joseph, spokesman, Catholic Bishops Conference of India.
"The first phase of interrogation is over. He has been asked to be present tomorrow morning at 11 am for continued interrogation. He has agreed to it," Kottayam Superintendent of police Hari Sankar said after the marathon questioning of the priest.
Kerala and coastal Karnataka have been witnessing a strange kind of jihad, which has even drawn the attention of a high court. This jihad has been termed as 'Love Jihad.' At first, these were just random instances of conversion. However, now with the Kerala Catholic Bishop's Conference stepping in, it has become a full-fledged fight between two communities.
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