Indian bishops to discuss ‘population explosion,’ persecution of Christians
January 31, 2012
When India’s bishops meet in Bangalore during the first week in February, they will discuss “the role of the Church for a better India.” While India has only 18.6 million Catholics--fewer than half the number of those in Brazil, Mexico, the Philippines, the US, Italy, or France--it now has more seminarians (14,798) and sisters (95,530) than any other nation in the world.
“The Church is totally Indian, loves its country and is worried,” says Archbishop Bernard Moras of Bangalore. “Therefore, as Christians, we will continue to make our own contribution, of values and action to the Indian society, to meet the challenges of the present.”
“The first is the population explosion, which cannot be stopped by selective abortions,” he said. India’s population rose from 846 million in 1991 to 1.21 billion in 2011.
“Then the economic crisis and inequalities that plague the country,” Archbishop Moras added. “A third point to be examined is education, which in India reaches only 30% of the population. We want, then to bring Christian values and ethics to curb corruption, emerged as one of the diseases in the country.”
“We will talk about even the age-old problem of terrorism and religious fanaticism, Hindu and Muslim, which breeds hatred, intolerance and violence against Christians,” he continued. “The challenge for us is to build and give effect to Commissions for dialogue and peace, in all local communities. As Christians, we are confident that the project of the radical Hindus to expel us from India will never be implemented.”
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