Express News Service
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: It is not just the frontline workers who are exposed to the risks of handling Covid-19 cases and facing life-threatening situations. Christian priests who lead services have turned out to the latest vulnerable group. As many as nine priests in the state have succumbed to the second Covid wave over the past ten days. Six of them were from the Syro Malabar Church and three from the CSI church.
At least 15 Christian priests have died of the virus in other parts of the country since the second wave gained strength last month. Among the deceased is a senior bishop too. Archbishop Emeritus Antony Anandarayar, former archbishop of Puducherry-Cuddalore, died of Covid on Tuesday.
NOAH SEELAM/AFP via Getty Images
6 May 2021
Police in Kerala, India, took legal action on Thursday against 480 Church of South India (CSI) priests for their role in organizing a retreat that has resulted in over 100 confirmed Chinese coronavirus cases, local media revealed.
The CSI retreat began on April 13 and brought together hundreds of the region’s clergymen shortly before the eruption of what is now considered the world’s worst national coronavirus outbreak. India has been seeing as many as 400,000 confirmed coronavirus cases a day this week and has documented over 21 million coronavirus cases since China failed to contain the Chinese coronavirus in Wuhan in late 2019.
Seminarians and Sr. Preetha Varghese, a member of the Sisters of Imitation of Christ who is in charge of the Food for Hungry program, cook food at the cathedral hall in the headquarters of Gurgaon Syro-Malankara diocese in New Delhi s Neb Sarai area to distribute to those who are in need. (Jessy Joseph)
Sr. Preetha Varghese has been feeding hundreds of people living in poverty in the streets of New Delhi after her arrival in the Indian capital in 2016.
The 44-year-old member of the Sisters of the Imitation of Christ, also called the Bethany Sisters, works for Prachodana Social Service Society, the social service wing of Gurgaon eparchy of the Syro-Malankara Catholic Church, one of the two Eastern Catholic rites in India. It is the youngest among 23 self-governing Eastern ritual churches in full communion with the pope, established on March 26, 2015, for the Syro-Malankara Catholics living in Delhi and surrounding areas.
Master strategist Modi woos Indian Christians by meeting cardinals
With elections due in key states including Kerala, the PM and his BJP party are playing a clever game
Trending
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi attends the launch of a Covid-19 vaccination drive via video conferencing in New Delhi on Jan. 16. (Photo: Indian Press Information Bureau/AFP)
New Delhi witnessed vintage politics when Prime Minister Narendra Modi met three Indian cardinals this week, but it went off more as a photo opportunity without any debated content.
For Modi and his pro-Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Jan. 19 meeting was a sure piece of material to woo Christians in some key states where elections are due this summer.
Kerala 2021: The Electoral Significance Of PM Modiâs Meeting With Catholic Bishops Â
by M R Subramani - Jan 20, 2021 10:16 AM
Prime Minister meets Catholic bishops. (@narendramodi)
Snapshot
Prime Minister Modiâs meeting with Catholic bishops from Kerala is viewed as BJPâs efforts to seek support from the Christian community ahead of the assembly elections.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi yesterday (19 January) met three Catholic bishops as part of what could be construed as the Bharatiya Janata Party s (BJPâs) efforts to reach out to the Christian community ahead of the assembly elections in Kerala.
Modi met Cardinal Oswald Gracias of the Latin-rite Church, Mumbai, Cardinal George Alencherry, Major Archbishop of the Syro-Malabar Church, and Cardinal Baselios Cleemis, Major Archbishop of the Syro-Malankara Church â both Kerala â in his office.