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Bishops warn of sectarian politics ahead of Indian state s polls
Prelates see efforts to pitch Christians against Muslims as the pro-Hindu BJP seeks political mileage in Kerala UCA News reporter Updated: February 11, 2021 07:18 AM GMT
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Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) supporters attend a public meeting addressed by India s Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Haldia, about 120km south of Kolkata, on Feb. 7. (Photo: AFP)
Ahead of state elections in Kerala state, Catholic bishops have cautioned people against misleading political campaigns that polarize people on religious lines in this Indian southern state.
The bishops warning came after a political leader justified the takeover of the 1,500-year-old Hagia Sophia Cathedral in Turkey and turning it into a mosque.
From left: Missionaries of Jesus Sr. Neena Rose; Franciscan Clarist Sr. Lissy Vadakkel; Missionaries of Jesus Sr. Anupama Kelamangalathuveli (Photos by Saji Thomas)
Kottayam, India Sr. Lissy Vadakkel fulfilled a wish when she completed recording her statement in the Indian case of a bishop accused of raping a nun.
The 57-year-old member of the Franciscan Clarist Congregation had to brave threats to her life to appear before the District and Sessions Court in Kottayam, a city in Kerala, a southwestern Indian state.
Vadakkel was the second among 83 witnesses in the case, in which Jalandhar Bishop Franco Mulakkal, 55, is accused of raping the former superior general of the Missionaries of Jesus between 2014 and 2016. Vadakkel, a charismatic retreat preacher and counselor, was the first person the survivor told about the alleged rape.