Nirmala Carvalho

The seven Christians were accused without proof of murdering guru Laxamananda Saraswati. They have been held for seven years, even though Maoist rebels have always claimed the murder. A profile of the seven accused. New episodes of tension in Kandhamal district. In Barkhama, Christians stopped from celebrating Christmas.

Police in Puttur in Karnataka stop celebrations to "protect" the Church, surrounded by Hindu radicals. The religious authorities called to testify and handed rules for future prayer services. These included the obligation to notify the police. Catholic leader: "In secular India, Christians are persecuted and vulnerable."

The Missionary of the Immaculate has lived in India for 44 years and since 1981 has been the director of the Vimala Dermatological Centre for the care and rehabilitation of leprosy sufferers in Versova (Mumbai).

Mgr Bernard Moras spoke at the diocese’s annual Christmas meeting. Christmas "is meaningless if we do not share the peace and joy of God with each other, particularly those who hurt us and made our lives miserable." Christmas invites us to reflect on Christ’s incarnation. In Laudato si’, Pope Francis calls for action to protect our common home. The Jubilee of Mercy can "give consolation to every man and woman of our time."

The archbishop of Mumbai yesterday opened the Holy Door of the Basilica of Mount Mary in Bandra. During the homily, he recalled the origin of the feast of Divine Mercy, instituted by St. John Paul II. Pope Francis chose mercy as the theme of his pontificate. "Let us open our hearts to God's mercy, and then give it to others."

Msgr. Henry D'Souza, who launched process of beatification: "Mother Teresa continues her maternal protection for me and for all of humanity even now." The miracle approved yesterday evening by Pope Francis. John Paul II called her "the icon of the mission in the twenty-first century". Pope Francis proposed her as a model for the "works of mercy" in this Jubilee Year.

A Puttur court finds the defendants innocent. They were arrested in 2007 for proselytising among Hindus. For Christian leader, "Christians are threatened, harassed and insulted by Hindu right-wing extremists, who disrupt their prayers in private homes”.

​Card Telesphore Toppo opened the Holy Door at Ranchi cathedral before 5,000 Tribals. Millions of people around the world "are forced to flee their homes in search of safer places. Their pain is beyond description. No solution seems possible because compassion and love seem to be waning worldwide.” However, understanding compassion "is the mission that every family must carry on,” the prelate said. “Only this way can we change our nation and the world."

​Holy Doors open in the Indian dioceses of Cuttack-Bhubaneswar, Bhopal and Bangalore. “Today we pass through the Holy Door and remember another door, the one the Synod Fathers of the Second Vatican Council opened to the world 50 years ago,” said the archbishop of Bhopal. Some 3,000 faithful, including many tribals, attended the service in the diocese of Cuttack-Bhubaneswar.

Under the ‘Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order’ of 1950, scheduled castes and tribes enjoy certain economic, educational and social benefits, such as job quotas in the country’s bureaucracies. However, rights and privileges under the order are reserved only for Hindu, Buddhist and Sikh Dalits, at the exclusion of Christians and Muslims. For rights activist, “Children suffer the same discrimination”. This is unfair, especially today, Human Rights Day.

A law passed in 2003 by the government of then Chief Minister Narendra Modi bans conversions from Hinduism to other religions without a judge’s permission. For Mgr Macwan, “We are free to celebrate our functions without restrictions,” but “difficulties arise in the case of the baptism of catechumens”. In the Year of Mercy, we are driven “towards the poor, the homeless, the sick.” The bishop talks about his personal experience at the Eucharistic Congress in Mumbai.

Ram Puniyani heads the Centre for the Study of Society and Secularism in Mumbai. For some time, he has been denouncing the climate of religious intolerance in India. "Religion is used as a cover for [someone’s] political agenda." Love for humanity "is threatened by a push towards aggression and hatred for others." The Jubilee asserts “everyone’s right to live in peace.”