Nirmala Carvalho

For 13 years, Fr Joseph D' Souza has led the blessing ceremony in his parish, St. Pius X in Mulund, in remembrance of Saint Francis of Assisi. This year there was great excitement because the saint's name is the one chosen by Jorge Bergoglio as pope. Even non-Catholics appreciate the blessing.

Retired bishop of Cuttack-Bhubaneshwar promises: "We will appeal". The convicted men are accused of the murder of a Hindu leader, which triggered the anti-Christian violence of 2008. Against them there is no evidence. The Maoists have always claimed reponsibility for the assassination.

Today the whole world celebrates the day for non-violence, established by the U.N. in honor of the birth of the country's spiritual leader. In India it is a national holiday, but many religious attacks betray the constitutional principles on which the nation was founded. In Karnataka, new cases of anti-Christian violence are worrying. Sajan George: "Gandhi believed in a free India based on religious pluralism".

The Court will issue the ruling on 3 October. The convicted Christians are held responsible for the murder of Hindu leader Laxamananda Saraswati, who unleashed the violent anti-Christian persecutions of 2008. The Maoists have claimed responsibility for the murder from the beginning, but the state authorities have always ignored the admission of liability.

In the homily yesterday the Vice-Rector of the basilica of Santa Maria del Monte in Bandra (Mumbai) has compared the parable to the growing gap between rich and poor in the country. Only with "cooperation and solidarity" can people "live safe".

A group of leading Islamic officials met a group of bishops in Mumbai and with one voice condemn the massacre perpetrated at a Protestant church in Pakistan. For Suhail Lokhandwala, a former chairman of the Minorities Commission, "The true Islam does not endorse any kind of violence; the terrorists are not part of our community."

India's central government releases figures concerning communal violence between the Hindu majority and the Muslim minority in the first nine months of the year. About 479 violent incidents occurred over this period with 107 dead and 1,697 injured. For Christian leader, "politicians should not take advantage of people's religious identity."

Sajan George , president of the Global Council of Indian Christians ( GCIC ) , writes a letter to the High Commissioner of Pakistan in India. The massacre of Christians in Peshawar is "a terrible tragedy " after which "promises and condemnation is no longer sufficient ."

Mgr Thomas Dabre has decided that all the parishes in his diocese will devote next Sunday Mass to the victims of the attack in Pakistan. "The integrity and moral authority of a nation," he said, "depend on its firm commitment to ensuring the rule of law and defending its minorities." Religious freedom "is an inalienable human right."

Sajan George, president of the Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC), condemns the attack against the Protestant church in Pakistan. "The murder of the faithful and innocent children - he says - is a cowardly act. We are worried about the violent contempt of Islamic extremists. "

Unknown looters desecrated the sacrament of the Church of St. Joseph in Juhu, to steal the monstrance and ciborium, both gold-plated. In his homily for the Mass auxiliary bishop asks the faithful to "pray for the guilty and invoke the mercy of God."

The men fatally gang raped a 23-year-old woman. For Bishop Dominic Savio Fernandes, "the death penalty is not and can never be a solution." Society has to rid itself of "its heavy bias against girls and women."