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.
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.
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.
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 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 KCBC, in a statement, said that even the United Nations reports have made it clear that money earned from drug trafficking is being used for terrorist activities.
The verbal duel between the Congress and BJP over the controversial 'love and narcotic jihad' remark by Pala Bishop Joseph Kallarangatt, intensified on Sunday with the former saying it does not want the Sangh parivar to gain foothold here while the latter claimed that both CPI (M) and Congress were cornering the Bishop over the issue.
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 nun had accused the clergyman of sexually assaulting her repeatedly between 2014 and 2016.
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.
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.