Mumbai (AsiaNews) - "The 288 adults baptized throughout the diocese of Mumbai" is a sign of new life for the Church, a sign that the message of the death and resurrection [of Jesus] still brings hope, joy, comfort”. This was the message at the heart of Card. Oswald Gracias’s homily for the Easter Vigil at the Cathedral of the Holy Name in Mumbai.
The Archbishop of the Indian metropolis added that "in light of the false attacks on the Holy Father, these new baptisms instill hope in the Church, because these adults who were baptized were not in the least bit fazed by the distortions and untruths about our Holy Father in the media”.
Card. Gracias devoted part of his homily to a passionate defence against the accusations against Benedict XVI that have appeared in the media about alleged "concealment" of sexual crimes of certain priests. "The accusations of inaction on the part of Catholic Church, are absolutely false," said the cardinal. " I was personally aware that the Servant of God, Pope John Paul II addressed this issue very seriously. I was in Rome, at the time, when the Servant of God, Pope John Paul II called the cardinals to discuss how to handle the situation and find a solution to the problem. I am also personally aware that personally aware that Pope Benedict XVI, when he was Cardinal Ratzinger as Prefect of the Congregation of issued a document to all bishops to take the situation (abuses) very seriously and put them on par with serious crimes such as sacrilege. The Holy Father has been firm in his commitment to root it(abuses) out of the Church; reach out to those who have been harmed; and hold perpetrators accountable…. It is absolutely false and baseless that the Holy Father tried to down play the entire abuse reports. "
"We are not in any way condoning the behaviour… or deny they occurred. We are sorry and we admit that the priests have betrayed their trust and have caused long term damage to the victims. However, it must be noted, that these incident occurred decades ago, and in most of these cases, it is there is much difficulty in verifying facts".
Card. Gracias announced in the coming weeks the Indian Bishops' Conference will gather to study the issue and draw up guidelines on how to tackle these problems.
He also said he has written "a personal letter to the Pope, assuring the solidarity of the Episcopal Conference and the Indian people." According to the Archbishop of Mumbai, there is an "orchestrated attack" against the pope.
