Catholic leaders denounce anti-Christian violence in India

Published: 2008-02-26

NEW DELHI (CNS) -- Catholic leaders denounced anti-Christian violence after suspected Hindu extremists damaged Massgoers' vehicles in the national capital and stoned a Protestant church in central India. About 20 people shouted anti-Christian slogans and attacked cars parked outside St. Sebastian Church in New Delhi during a Syro-Malabar Catholic liturgy Feb. 24. Capuchin Father Augustine Edakkalathur, parish priest, said the attackers belonged to the Hindu extremist group Bajrang Dal. They shouted slogans in Hindi telling Christians and Muslims to leave the country, the priest told the Asian church news agency UCA News Feb. 25. Divine Word Father Dominic Emmanuel, spokesman for the Delhi Archdiocese, said this attack and another attack on a church in September show that "fundamentalists are getting bolder and increasing the extension of their terror." The church is "very concerned" about the attacks, especially when they happen "right under the nose" of the federal government, he said Feb. 25.

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