Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
New Delhi (Agenzia Fides) - "We will have the strength from the Holy Spirit to resist the evil and destructive forces. The mission of the Church goes forward without fear " is what Fr. Babu Joseph Karakombil, SVD says to Fides, a spokesman of the Episcopal Conference of India, in response to the aggressive anti-Christian campaign by Hindu extremist leaders, which have intensified recently (see Fides 3/11 and 8/11/2011). In past days, as reported to Fides by the "Global Council of Indian Christians", Praveen Togadia, Secretary general of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad Hindu extremist network, has even asked for the "decapitation for those seeking to convert Hindus to the Christian faith".
Fr. Babu Joseph explains to Fides: "The verbal violence, but also violent actions, against Christians goes on intermittently in several states, for local or national issues, and it is the work of radical Hindu network groups. Much depends on politics: violence increases when these movements, thanks to political protection of the nationalist Hindu right wing, have more freedom of action".
The Church is not intimidated, the Spokesman said: "India has an ancient Christian history. Christians in India are 2.5% of the population and, therefore, many Indians have not yet met and known the Gospel. Evangelization continues even if in the last 35 years, anti-Christian movements have grown, despite incidents of violence against people, places and Christian institutions have multiplied and the community of the faithful, in some states, are going through a very hard time. Announcing the Gospel is always an opportunity and a challenge that measures our faith". (PA) (Agenzia Fides 10/11/2011)
