Hyderabad (AsiaNews) - Working for the common good, so that the division between Telangana and Andhra Pradesh takes place in complete harmony. This is the goal that the new president of the regional branch of the Conference of Religious India (CRI) has set, Fr. Almaraj SJ, who is also the new provincial of the Society of Jesus for the region. His election in the general assembly which ended yesterday in Hyderabad was unanimous.
Since June 2, India has a new state: Telangana, which has split from Andhra Pradesh. The state carved its own independent legal, political and territorial existence in February, when Parliament passed the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act.
Speaking at the general meeting Fr. Johnnes Gorantla OCD, the outgoing Apcri president, said that "for the time being there will not be any significant change in the work of priests and missionaries, as the Council of Bishops of Andhra Pradesh (APBC) has yet to rule on the reorganization of the local clergy".
With the birth of the new state, the APBC has become the governing body of the Catholic Church for Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.
On 7 July, a delegation of high-ranking prelates - including Msgr. Thumma Bala, Archbishop of Hyderabad and president of the Andhra Pradesh Federation of Churches (APFC), Msgr. Gali Bali, Apbc President - met the new chief minister of Andhra Pradesh. The Catholic religious leaders expressed the support of the Christian community to the head of government, thanking him for his efforts in favor of minorities.
* Mission of the Immaculate Conception, a congregation of women associated with the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions (PIME).
