Your gift counts double until 5/31: $23,213 to go in our Easter Campaign. Please help now!

Pope to India's bishops: do not be deterred by threats, criticism

CWN - September 19, 2011

Church leaders in India must be prepared “to walk in the footsteps of Christ, Who was Himself misunderstood, despised, falsely accused and Who suffered for the sake of truth,” Pope Benedict XVI told a group of Indian bishops on September 19.

“Do not be deterred when such trials arise in your own ministry,” the Holy Father told the Indian bishops, who were completing their ad limina visits to Rome. The Pope’s message seemed to refer to the assaults on Christians by Hindu extremists.

The Pope also spoke about the duty of the Catholic Church to preach the Gospel to all people, noting that in obedience to the Lord, she continues to do so without regard for tribe and tongue and people and nation.” In India, Hindu nationalists have complained that Christians are making special efforts to convert members of impoverished tribal groups. Pope Benedict seemed to allude to that conflict, too, when he observed simply that “the Catholic Church is the friend of the poor.”

Additional sources for this story
Some links will take you to other sites, in a new window.

An appeal from our founder, Dr. Jeffrey Mirus:

Dear reader: If you found the information on this page helpful in your pursuit of a better Catholic life, please support our work with a donation. Your donation will help us reach five million Truth-seeking readers worldwide this year. Thank you!

Easter Campaign:
Progress toward our Spring 2013 goal ($23,213 to go):
$80,000.00 $56,787.50
29% 71%
Sound Off! CatholicCulture.org supporters weigh in.

All comments are moderated. To lighten our editing burden, only current donors are allowed to Sound Off. If you are a donor, log in to see the comment form; otherwise please support our work, and Sound Off!

There are no comments yet for this item.

Catholic World News Email Newsletter
Donate to Support this Site: Your contribution will be put to good work.
Tour the CatholicCulture.org Site
Shop Amazon to Raise Money for Catholic Culture

Recent Catholic Commentary

Fr. Thadeus Nguyen Van Ly: Your Letter May Help 5 hours ago
The Rise and Fall of the (American?) Church 24 hours ago
The Ideal of Pope Francis: the Servant Church May 23
The sad decline of self-government May 22
That impromptu exorcism again May 22

Top Catholic News

Most Important Stories of the Last 30 Days
Pope strongly supports call for reform in religious life CWN - May 8