As violence against Christians escalates across India, Catholic leaders and laypeople are urging the Vatican to respond with clarity and force. During a recent diplomatic visit from July 13–19, Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, the Vatican’s Secretary for Relations with States, encountered growing pressure to acknowledge and address the deepening crisis.
According to the United Christian Forum, 2024 has already seen 834 reported cases of violence and hostility against Christians — a sharp increase from 734 in 2023 and a staggering jump from just 127 incidents in 2014, the year Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to power. The memorandum, presented to Archbishop Gallagher during his visit, appealed for “urgent intervention” by the Holy See as Christians across the country face intimidation, detainment, and brutality.
The timing of the Vatican official’s trip, intended to “strengthen bonds of friendship and collaboration” according to the Holy See, added urgency to the Christian community’s plea. While Gallagher’s visit included Mass and discussions with theology students at Jesuit Vidyajyoti seminary in New Delhi, the seminary’s principal, Father Rajkumar Joseph, stated it was a “private visit” and declined to share further details, according to Catholic News Agency (CNA).
While India’s Foreign Minister, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, described his meeting with Gallagher as a “good conversation” that emphasized “the importance of faith and the need for dialogue and diplomacy to address conflicts,” many Catholics are frustrated by the absence of concrete statements or public advocacy. Jesuit Father Cedric Prakash openly criticized the visit as “Vatican tokenism,” saying that “atrocities against Christians should have been brought up in the discussion with the government.”
The crisis is most severe in states ruled by the BJP, such as Uttar Pradesh (209 incidents reported in 2024) and Chhattisgarh (165 incidents). Odisha, under BJP control for only a year, has already seen some of the most gruesome cases. Christians in tribal regions have been barred from burying their dead, and in some cases, corpses were exhumed for public “reconversion ceremonies.” In the Sambalpur Diocese, two elderly priests — one reportedly in his 90s — were brutally beaten, tied up, and warned with death threats if they returned to their mission.
These attacks are frequently justified under allegations of so-called “fraudulent conversion,” a legal and political tool often used to justify detaining Christian pastors and believers. Hundreds have been arrested under such claims, according to the United Christian Forum.
The most recent outrage came on June 21, when 31 Christians were injured and dozens expelled from Kotamateru village in Odisha’s Malkangiri district. This triggered widespread protests by Christians demanding government action. Yet so far, the response from civil authorities and international allies has remained muted.
In the words of Catholic lay leader John Dayal, “Perhaps the all-round silence suits the government” (CNA, July 22). But for India’s persecuted Christians, silence is no longer an option. Their appeal is not only for justice — it is for solidarity from the universal Church.
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