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Cardinal: Anti-Christian Violence Disgracing India
25-09-2008
Says People of All Creeds Are Horrified
MUMBAI, India, SEPT. 24, 2008 (Zenit.org).- The ongoing anti-Christian violence in India is a "disgrace" and horrifying to people of good will in India, regardless of their religious beliefs, says the archbishop of Bombay.
Cardinal Oswald Gracias called the campaign against Christians by Hindu extremists "inexplicable," a "disgrace" and "madness," reported L'Osservatore Romano on Tuesday.
"All persons of good will in India, whether Christians, Hindus or Muslims, are horrified and astonished by the diabolical hunt of Christians to kill them and destroy their homes and churches," he said. "We must not give in to the temptation to resignation, and even less so to that of vengeance. In the end, it won't be fundamentalism that prevails. Prayer, including for those who hate us, is our main weapon."
Though India has often been the home of Hindu-Christian tension, a wave of escalated violence began in late August after the murder of a Hindu leader. Since then several Christians have been killed, churches and properties have been burned, and thousands of Christians have fled their homes.
Despite the current situation, the cardinal explained that India "is a great country in which many hopes have been placed: I have always thought of it this way and I was moved when the Pope repeated it to me personally at the moment he created me cardinal in November of last year."
Cardinal Gracias added that this hope is supported in an important way by interreligious dialogue, which he called necessary to give "hope to India and the whole world."
"Religious liberty is the first of liberties," he said. "Only genuine interreligious dialogue will allow for the elimination of any possible cause of tension or disagreement between religious and ethnic groups in India.
"Dialogue is vital, essential. The Church has never ceased to promote it -- a dialogue that must not be impoverished by syncretism, but must develop in mutual respect."
In this connection, the cardinal said the Church "will continue to be on the side of the poor and the sick without looking to see if they are Hindus, Muslims or Christians. It will reaffirm the right to life for all: It is terrible that newborns are killed if they are female."
Catholics "pray and work so that the problems that are making us suffer so much are pulled up by the roots, so that all Indians may be united, without distinction, in justice. We have a clear objective: that no one goes to bed hungry, that no dignity is offended, that no right is denied to minorities, including religious liberty, and that no poor person is abandoned," he concluded.
Death threats
Nevertheless, Cardinal Gracias expressed concern about the inaction of local authorities in regions where persecution has been unleashed, despite the support to Christians shown by the national government.
In this connection, the bishops have addressed Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on several occasions to request his help. At present, Archbishop Raphael Cheenath of Cuttack-Bhubaneswar (the diocese most affected by the violence) is hoping to be received, along with a delegation of Catholic clergy.
Archbishop Cheenath, who was on a trip when the persecution broke out, has not been able to return home because he has received death threats from extremists.
"Last week I received a chilling letter in which Hindu groups threatened me, saying 'blood for blood, life for life.' They say in the letter that I will be killed if I return to Orissa," he explained to the press service of the Italian episcopal conference. Two days ago, the bishop's residence was stoned.
The prelate added he did not trust the local government, "which failed when the moment arrived to protect the lives of Christians in the districts of Kandhamal and Sambalpur."
For his part, Archbishop Bernard Moras of Bangalore made public a communiqué through the SAR news agency, in which he "firmly condemned" the wave of violence that his diocese is enduring, especially "the profanation of the churches and Eucharistic species" in several parishes last Sunday.
