Holy See Decries Anti-Christian Violence in India

In a communiqué today, the Holy See formally appealed for an end to the violence against Christian communities in India.

VATICAN CITY (Zenit) - The Vatican is speaking out against a wave of anti-Christian violence in eastern India, which has already caused perhaps as many as eight deaths.

In a communiqué today, the Holy See formally appealed for an end to the violence against Christian communities in India, which intensified over the weekend after a Hindu political leader was killed. Authorities suspected communist rebels in the death of Swami Laxmananada Saraswati, but Hindu hardliners are blaming Christians.

The eastern Indian state of Orissa has long been plagued by Christian-Hindu violence, as Christian missionaries work with poor tribal peoples of the region and Hindus accuse them of forcing or bribing conversions.

Saraswati, a leader of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad or World Hindu Council, was active in the campaign to stop villagers from converting to Christianity or to win them back.

Bishop Thomas Thiruthalil, president of Orissa's Catholic conference, harshly condemned the murder. "We, the Catholic community of Orissa, profoundly condemn the terrible event, and express our profound sympathy to the deceased's loved ones," he said in a statement.

Solidarity

A note published by the Vatican press office expressed the Holy See's solidarity with the local Churches and the congregations affected in the wave of attacks.

The statement said the Vatican condemns these acts that are "against the dignity and liberty of persons and compromises peaceful civil coexistence."

At the same time, the Vatican appealed to all "so that, with a sense of responsibility, an end is put to all violence and a climate of dialogue and mutual respect is re-established."

L'Osservatore Romano describes the news from India as "extremely worrying."

Rape and killing

On Monday morning, a 21-year-old laywoman who taught computer classes in an orphanage was killed when Hindu extremists set the building on fire. She and a priest had been locked inside; the priest sustained critical injuries.

A Christian man was killed in his home in Kandhamal, and three others were victims of fires.

Sister Meena of the Bubaneshwar Social Center was raped by groups of Hindu extremists before the building she worked in was set on fire, reported AsiaNews.

Some of Blessed Teresa of Calcutta's sisters were also attacked; a few were pelted with stones and one was seriously injured. And a hospital for the elderly, run by the Missionaries of Charity, was destroyed for the second time, the news agency reported.