Prime Minister Narendra Modi attended a Christmas morning service at the Cathedral Church of the Redemption in Delhi, joining a large congregation. The service included prayers, carols, and a special prayer for the Prime Minister. The Vice President also extended Christmas greetings.
On Christmas Day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi attended the Christmas morning service at the Cathedral Church of the Redemption in New Delhi along with a large congregation of Christians from Delhi and north India.
'They should be given a strong message that they are not the ones who decide the rule of the land, and they are not the ones who decide what justice is.'
Cautioning against the presence of Jihadis, who try to cultivate communalism, religious disharmony, intolerance and contempt across the world, in Kerala also, the Bishop said they were using different means to destroy other religions.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi made history by attending Christmas celebrations organised by the Catholic Bishops' Conference of India in New Delhi on Monday, December 23, 2024.
BJP state chief Rajeev Chandrasekhar stated that the arrest of two nuns in Chhattisgarh was due to a 'misunderstanding' and that they will be released on bail soon. He met with Archbishop of Trichur Andrews Thazhath to brief him that the Prime Minister and Union Home Minister have assured the nuns would be released on bail.
'They have to prove the credibility of their talk; whether they want to focus on the secular face of India, whether they want to focus on democracy and above all freedom of an individual to practice his or her religion.'
The Kerala BJP has contradicted the Chhattisgarh Chief Minister's justification of the arrest of two Keralite Catholic nuns, stating they were not involved in human trafficking or forced conversion attempts and promising to help them.
A special court in Chhattisgarh's Bilaspur district granted bail to three persons, including two nuns from Kerala, arrested on charges of human trafficking and forced religious conversion.
The arrest of two Catholic nuns from Kerala in Chhattisgarh on charges of human trafficking and forced religious conversion has ignited a political controversy, with opposition parties criticizing the arrest and the Chief Minister defending the police action.
Four cardinals from India, including two from Kerala, are eligible to vote in the upcoming conclave to elect the new Pope. Only cardinals under the age of 80 are eligible to vote, as per the regulations. Anthony Poola, the Archbishop of Hyderabad; Filipe Neri Cardinal Ferrao, the Archbishop of Goa and Daman; Cardinal Baselios Cleemis of the Syro-Malankara Church; and George Koovakkad, the newly appointed cardinal, are the four who can cast votes in the upcoming conclave.
George stated that a girl should be married off by the time she is 22 or 23 and that such decency should be maintained.
A leading Catholic Church daily in Kerala has described the Waqf amendment bill as a crucial test of secularism in Parliament, urging MPs to support it. The editorial in Deepika daily comes as the union government prepares to table the bill for parliamentary consideration. The editorial calls the bill a test of secularism and warns MPs that failing to support it would mark them in history as endorsing religious fundamentalism. The paper added that the bill will also put an end to the injustices faced by thousands of Hindu, Christian, and Muslim citizens who have suffered due to the Waqf law. The editorial also recalled the recent statement addressed to Kerala MPs by Kerala Catholic Bishops' Council (KCBC) where the KCBC President Cardinal Mar Baselios Cleemis Catholicos urged amending provisions in the Waqf law that validate claims over land which people of Munambam have lawfully possessed. Opposition parties have slammed the bill as "unconstitutional" and against the interest of the Muslim community.
Pope Francis's connection with India was marked by a mix of hopes and challenges. His long-held wish to visit the country remained unfulfilled, but he made significant contributions to the Catholic community in India, including elevating Indian figures to sainthood and appointing an Indian priest as a Cardinal. While his efforts to resolve conflicts within the Syro-Malabar Church were unsuccessful, his legacy will be remembered for his efforts to promote unity and understanding in the Catholic Church.
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 specter of how the Munambam issue was exploited during the November by-elections is proof of the price Kerala is paying for its emergent politics. Controversies become the stuff of slow-burn and brinkmanship. The former promises mileage; the latter searches for an advantage, notes Shyam G Menon.
'Somebody strong is playing a game behind the violence in Manipur.' 'It is a pre-planned attack on churches, Christian organisations and Christians.'
Amid a raging debate on the country's strict abortion laws, Ireland's Catholic bishops have said that the church 'has never taught that the life of a child in the womb should be preferred to that of a mother'.
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.
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 Kerala Police on Monday registered a case against Catholic Bishop Joseph Kallarangatt on the basis of a complaint that the priest through his "love and narcotic jihad" remarks, committed the offence of promoting feelings of hatred between different groups on the grounds of religion.
'Even if they try to silence us, even if they kill so many of us, we won't give up.' 'We won't give up doing the good work we are doing for society.' 'Because we love this country.'
Roman Catholic bishop Franco Mulakkal was arrested on September 21 after being accused of repeatedly raping and sexually abusing a nun between 2014 and 2016.
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.
The Catholic Bishops Conference of India wants the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government to enact legislation to make pre-marital AIDS tests compulsory.
Catholic Bishops Conference of India, apex body of the Catholic priests in the country, on expressed displeasure over government's decision to organise Yoga day on June 21, saying Sundays are "sacred day" for Christians in the country.
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.
As the prosecution failed to produce evidence against the accused, the Additional District and Sessions Court II acquitted the Bishop.
Devasahayam Pillai, who embraced Christianity in the 18th century, on Sunday became the first Indian layman to be declared a saint by Pope Francis during an impressive canonisation ceremony at the Vatican.
A German Catholic bishop, under fire for his extravagant spending and for lying under oath about a first class flight he took to India last year, has appeared before Pope Francis in Rome, amid speculation whether he will be forced to resign for his big-spending lifestyle.
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.
"I think often of persecuted peoples: the Rohingya, the poor Uyghurs, the Yazidi -- what ISIS did to them was truly cruel -- or Christians in Egypt and Pakistan killed by bombs that went off while they prayed in the church," Francis says in a new book, Let Us Dream: The Path to A Better Future, published on Monday.
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.
Pope Benedict XVI's official representative Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor is visiting Vasai, an extended suburb of Mumbai, on Wednesday.
A recent interfaith marriage of a Muslim activist of the ruling Communist Party of India-Marxist's youth wing DYFI, has stirred up a political storm after the relatives of the Christian bride alleged "love jihad", with a senior left party leader supporting the charge, only to retract his statement later.
Slamming the public outcry over the alleged delay in action against Jalandhar Bishop, Auxilary Bishop of Changanassery Archdiocese, Thomas Tharayil sought to know whether declaring a person guilty without an investigation and trial was also a new Kerala model.
With elections elsewhere in India showing that multi-pronged contests usually work to the BJP's favour, the party can gain if it hangs on stubbornly. In the meantime, any additional support helps. That is why the archbishop's comment attracted political traction in Kerala, observes Shyam G Menon.
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.
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.
'Religion must not and cannot be the basis for a survey,' says Father Babu Joseph, spokesman, Catholic Bishops Conference of India.
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