Nirmala Carvalho

‘Holy Mother of God’ parish church is located in Talasari, in the heart of the Adivasi mission. During the celebration, the archbishop of Vasai confirmed 260 children and adults. “Our brothers and sisters are quite well settled as solid Christians,” Mgr Machado said. They will be the “the solid leaders of tomorrow”.

The incident happened in the early hours of this morning. According to the fundamentalists, two parishioners damaged saffron flags (the symbol color of Hindu nationalism) exposed outside the church for the festival of Rama. The US religious freedom Commission's report confirms the escalation of violence against Christians in India.

Fr. Raja Reddy is from the same diocese as Mgr. Gallela Prasad. The bishop was kidnapped and locked up a facility run by the priest. The police speak of kidnapping for ransom, injury, damage and criminal conspiracy. The kidnappers had already attempted the kidnapping four times.

Mgr Oswald Lewis heads the Labour Commission of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of India. He spoke about workers’ conditions, many of whom are unorganised, without health insurance or social security. He stressed the need to eliminate child labour.

Security officers and Hindu extremists stormed a place of worship in Satna, arresting 10 people including the pastor and the groom's parents. He is accused of having converted the pair illegally to Christianity and celebrating a marriage between minors. Christian leaders: "This is abuse of anti-conversion laws".

The leaders of the Indian Catholic Church asked the prime minister to lead a government delegation to Rome for the canonisation of Mother Teresa. The bishops praised the government's involvement in trying to get the release of Fr. Tom Uzhunnalil, who was abducted in Yemen. Modi pledged support for Ranchi hospital for the poor and Tribals, an initiative of local Catholics.

Mgr Sebastian Francis Shaw, archbishop of Lahore, visited the Indian capital with 16 priests from his diocese, where they were “greeted so warmly”. Despite being divisions and conflicts since 1947, “A strong sense of brotherhood and communion binds our two peoples”, and this calls for “a new culture of mercy".

The attackers remain unidentified, but are probably Hindus. They beat up the family and forced them to sing "Jai Sri Ram", or "Victory to Ram". Then they burned the church and also threw petrol on the Christians. Recently there has been a similar attack against another Pentecostal group. State applies anti-conversion law and many local councils have banned all non-Hindu religious events.

The group was participating in a peaceful two day rally. After the naming ceremony of some Christians, the radicals attacked the faithful. Previously they had tortured a Christian, who refused to insult the name of God, for five hours. The man was beaten with chains, sticks and a scythe; his wounds rubbed with water and alcohol; his body subjected to electric shocks.

The archbishop of Mumbai and president of the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences told AsiaNews that the apostolic exhortation “endorses the social doctrine of the Church” in continuity with the teachings of his predecessors. It is an important invitation to the laity and consecrated persons, who must study it to get a positive impact for their ministry.

This morning a fire set off a store of fireworks that exploded. So far, 106 people are known to have died with more than 350 injured. Rescue operations are still underway. Card Oswald Gracias offered the Catholic Church’s prayers and help.

The Archbishop of Guwahati spoke about the Indian Salesian held by a Jihadi group in Yemen. The clergyman was aware of the risks he was taking, but always wanted to do this work. The prelate met with the family and saw the solidarity of Christians around the world. The brother of the kidnap victim wept during a moment of prayer.