Sister Blandina’s canonization cause clears theological review
The canonization cause for Sister Blandina Segale, the "Fastest Nun in the West,” is moving forward after Vatican theologians unanimously voted to advance her sainthood cause.
It is a “very historical moment in the archdiocesan history, but also [for] the Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati and the whole Church,” Archbishop John Wester of Santa Fe, New Mexico, said at a press conference outside the Blandina Segale Convent in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on June 1.
“The Sisters of Charity are profoundly grateful for the life of Sister Blandina and her witness of faith, courage, and care for those most in need,” said Sister Monica Gundler, president of the Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati, in a press release.
“As her story continues to be shared with the world, we pray that her compassionate heart will inspire others to emulate her example of charity, justice, and service,” she said.
Her cause moving forward is “a national celebration,” said Allen Sanchez, the petitioner of Segale’s cause, at the event.
The theologians “came together with a very important lens to look at her life” and examined 14,000 pages of “the argument for her heroic virtue, the book she wrote, and books written about her,” Sanchez said.
After doing so, they confirmed that Segale used the gifts of the Holy Spirit and fulfilled the corporal works of mercy, Sanchez said.
“There was no debate” among them, but it was rather a “celebration,” Sanchez said.
“They have everything in place, but in the summer they get to vote and then itʼs up to them to recommend to the pope if sheʼs venerable,” he said. After an examination by cardinals and bishops who are members of the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, the prefect of the dicastery presents findings to the pope who can consider approval.
If she becomes venerable it will then require one miracle to move forward again to her beatification, but “we have 58 of them,” he said.
Sister Blandina Segale
Segale was an Italian immigrant who came to the Wild West in the 1800s. She was born Maria Rosa Segale in the town of Cigana, Italy, on Jan. 23, 1850. At the age of 4, she and her parents moved to Cincinnati where she joined the Sisters of Charity at 16.
She spent over two decades serving in the American Southwest, primarily in Trinidad, Colorado, and in Santa Fe and Albuquerque, New Mexico.
She worked in schools, orphanages, and hospitals that the sisters operated. She worked to build a trade school for Native American women and a home for the elderly.
She offered direct relief to the poor and helped raise money for numerous efforts.
She “started the public schools and the Catholic schools in [New Mexico] and the healthcare system,” Sanchez said. “The healthcare system that she helped begin with other nuns is now the largest nonprofit healthcare provider in the nation.”
Amid her efforts to start schools and hospitals, she intervened against lynch mobs and outlaws.
She eventually formed a friendship with William Bonney, better known as “Billy the Kid” — an American criminal linked to numerous murders in the late 19th century.
According to legend, and Segale’s journal and letters, one of Billy the Kid’s gang members was shot, but doctors refused to treat him. Segale decided to take him in and nurse him back to health.
The criminal was still unhappy so he planned to return to scalp the four doctors in revenge. When he arrived, Segale intervened and convinced him to call it off on behalf of the man she had saved.
After the incident, Segale and Billy the Kid became friends. She visited him in jail, and he called off a stage-coach robbery as soon as he realized she was one of the passengers.
Gifts of the Holy Spirit
“Blandina had wisdom and she had understanding,” Wester said. “She saw the world through the eyes of God. She had the wisdom of the Scriptures, the wisdom of the Church, the wisdom of faith.”
She also had “courage and fortitude,” he said. “She was this little powerhouse” who “rode down here in the stagecoach by herself, and she came to New Mexico.”
“She trusted in Jesus, that the Lord Jesus was with her and calling her to this mission, and she never wavered in her courage.” She “confronted mobs, lynch mobs, Billy the Kid — all kinds of difficulties with courage."
“She had prudence" and “the gift of right judgment,” Wester said. “She conceived that we needed hospitals and schools and cemeteries and orphanages and all kinds of institutions to help people. And she started them.”
“She could make good decisions” with her “knowledge to know the will of God, that God was willing peace for his people,” he said.
“God wants us all to live together in peace, and Blandina knew that,” he said.
“I encourage all of us in New Mexico, Catholic and non-Catholic alive, to follow Blandinaʼs example, to care for people, to live in harmony with people, to see the good in people, to be able to affirm one another and build each other up, and to be able to live together in peace,” Wester said.
Peru celebrates Eucharistic miracle with call to renew love for Eucharist
On June 2, the 377th anniversary of the first apparition of the Divine Child of the Eucharistic Miracle of Eten in Chiclayo province, northern Peru, the group Eucharistic Miracle Peru 1649 renewed its invitation to focus on the Eucharist and to live it with greater faith and unity.
The miracle dates back to 1649 in the old town of Santa Magdalena de Ciudad Eten, when on the eve of the solemnity of Corpus Christi, “the Divine Child appeared on a consecrated host” during Mass. Months later, on July 22 of that same year, there was a new apparition of the Divine Child on the feast day of St. Mary Magdalene. It then disappeared, and in its place there were “three intertwined hearts symbolizing the Most Holy Trinity.”
These events, recorded by ecclesiastical authorities of the time, have been preserved in historical documents that are currently housed in San Francisco Convent in Lima and in the National Archive of the Indies in Seville, Spain.
‘A gift from God for living in communion’
In observance of the occasion, the group Eucharistic Miracle Peru 1649 noted that its mission is simple yet profound: to draw more people closer to a love for the Eucharist.
They also recalled the words of the then-bishop of Chiclayo, Robert Prevost, now Pope Leo XIV, who was one of the driving forces behind the recognition of the miracle by the Vatican.
During a celebration in Eten, he stated: “This beautiful gift, that great gift which God, the source of all life and of all that is good... this gift that God has bestowed here, in this place, with you and for you, is given precisely to experience this joy of being united in the communion of the Church with the Child of the Miracle.”
In 2019, Prevost presented Pope Francis with a document regarding the history of the Miracle of Eten, which compiled “20,000 testimonies of faith,” and that same year he stated: “This miracle is approved on the basis of a continuous tradition in the city of Eten.”
Faith lived in daily life
Beyond the commemorative events, the celebration was also marked by new stories of faith.
One of them is that of Gabriel Crosby Sánchez. His mother, Arabella, recounted with emotion how, from a very young age, she placed him under the protection of the Child of the Miracle and took him every Saturday to the so-called “Masses of Promise.”
Over time, that practice bore fruit: Today, Gabriel serves as an acolyte at St. John Vianney Parish in the Magdalena del Mar district of metro Lima.
For his family and the community, his story is a simple but strong sign that the faith is passed on at home, in everyday life, and that when lived with perseverance it can transform lives.
A devotion that continues its journey
On this anniversary, the group Eucharistic Miracle Peru 1649 expressed special gratitude for the warm welcome extended by the community of Magdalena del Mar, where the image of the Divine Child of the Miracle was recently received.
The group also renewed its invitation to the faithful to join the spiritual pilgrimage currently traveling through various regions of the country — including central Lima, Comas, Lurín, and Bellavista as a preparation for the expected visit of the Holy Father.
This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.
Gaza in need of ‘miracles,’ papal agency says
“With nothing to do, nowhere to go, no schooling, no commerce,” Gaza is “a very still quiet and dark place,” said Michael La Civita, director of communications at the Catholic Near East Welfare Association (CNEWA).
CNEWA is working with numerous Church entities in Gaza, as it is in a “permanent state of waiting,” La Civita told “EWTN News Nightly” on June 2.
Pope Pius XI founded CNEWA in 1926 to give pastoral and humanitarian support to northeast Africa, the Middle East, Eastern Europe, and India. CNEWA has a worldwide network of people committed to helping those most in need, regardless of where they are.
As the conflict in Gaza continues, there are “upwards of 2 million people, most of whom are displaced,” and “their homes have been destroyed,” La Civita said.
There is “severe malnutrition and concerns for the health and well-being of children, expecting mothers, [and] the elderly living in extremely trying circumstances,” he said.
In Gaza, there is “no school, no shelter,” and “very little … access to food,” he said. “Weʼre concerned about, of course, things like hepatitis A and other diseases that are associated with the lack of sanitation, water, clean water, potable water, as well as healthcare.”
There have also been recent reports of child exploitation and child marriages in Gaza, but CNEWA is “not dealing so much with child marriages thus far because we have not been confronted with that with our partners,” La Civita said.
It “is not a particular issue that weʼve yet had to confront,” La Civita siad. But “the situation there economically is pretty horrific. I can imagine all sorts of nefarious things happening, such as that.”
“Weʼre dealing with situations as they see them, he said.
“Much of what we do is … psychosocial work for children and the elderly and vulnerable populations, their parents, their families,” he said. CNEWA also offers “medical care for mothers and expecting mothers.”
Pope’s call for assistance
CNEWA continues to aid the population as Pope Leo XIV continues to renew his appeal for humanitarian assistance in Gaza.
While speaking to journalists outside Castel Gandolfo on May 26, the Holy Father called on the international community to assist the people of Gaza, insisting that human rights must be respected "for everyone.”
"I would also like to renew this not only as an invitation, but truly as an appeal," he said. The Holy Father urged "all authorities to assist and accompany the people of Gaza, and to help begin reconstruction.”
Pope Leo noted that, "unfortunately, the people of Gaza are still not receiving humanitarian aid.”
"The people are truly suffering," and they "continue to suffer greatly,” Pope Leo said.
To answer the Churchʼs call, CNEWA works “with the local Church communities,” including “the Latin Church of the Holy Family and the Greek Orthodox Parish of St. Porphyrius, as well as Christian organizations like the International organization International Orthodox charities as well as Caritas,” La Civita said.
How the faithful can help
In order to help, Catholics and other Christians can “first of all, pray,” La Civita said. ”Because prayer ... works miracles, and we need miracles.”
“Second, we need a willingness for there to be peace. We need a willingness on all sides to want to establish some sense of stability for the people that live there,” he said.
There is a need for “access [to] vehicles as promised,” La Civita added. “What is needed to deliver aid is upwards of 600 trucks a day. Weʼre lucky if we get 400 a week carrying supplies.”
“So if youʼre only getting 400 trucks a week and what you need are more than 600 a day to feed a malnourished population, to provide them with medicines and water and food — you have a difficult, difficult situation.”
“I canʼt imagine stability returning or any sense of normality returning until you have access to materials, access to healthcare, access to food and water.”
New York Catholic university files federal lawsuit over forced collective bargaining rule
A historic Catholic university in New York City has filed a federal lawsuit against state officials amid a dispute over collective bargaining with faculty unions.
The lawsuit, filed in U.S. district court on June 1, alleges that the New York State Public Employment Relations Board is infringing on its “fundamental constitutional right” to religious liberty by presumptively exercising jurisdiction over the schoolʼs union bargaining policy.
In February the school announced that it would no longer recognize two unions on campus, the St. John’s University Chapter of the American Association of University Professors and the Faculty Association. Both had been formed in 1970.
A school spokesman said the decision would "allow [the school] the flexibility required to innovate while continuing to support our faculty and, most importantly, deliver on our promise to our students.”
The unions subsequently filed a complaint with the state Public Employment Relations Board, alleging that the schoolʼs decision, along with changes to faculty employment terms, violated the New York State Employment Relations Act.
In its June 1 filing, the school said the First Amendment and extensive court precedent prohibits the state board from what the university described as “excessive government entanglement with religion.”
The lawsuit alleges that the unionʼs request would require the school to share its decision-making authority with both union leaders and the state government, even on issues that are “essential to its mission.”
Oversight from the state board would “[prevent] St. John’s from exercising its First Amendment right to freely govern itself in accordance with its Catholic and Vincentian mission and faith,” the suit says.
The state labor board did not immediately respond to a request for comment from EWTN News regarding the federal lawsuit.
Earlier this year the school received criticism from some community members for its decision to withdraw from union bargaining.
Sophia Bell, the president of the St. John’s chapter of the American Association of University Professors, called the decision “a disastrous mistake.”
“[School president Father Brian Shanley] is violating New York state law and ignoring decades of St. John’s institutional practice and centuries of Catholic social teaching around respect for labor and workers,” Bell told EWTN News.
The school was founded in 1870 and is headquartered in Queens, New York.
Pope Leo XIV accompanied him through his cancer battle. Now they will meet again in Madrid
During the Jubilee of Youth, held in Rome from July 28 to Aug. 3, 2025, unforgettable scenes filled the Eternal City: young pilgrims singing hymns with guitars, praying quietly near the fountains, and recording videos to share their faith on social media.
Among the thousands of young people who passed through the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica was Ignacio Gonzálvez, a 15-year-old Spaniard. But during the pilgrimage, he began to experience intense chest pain. He was rushed to Bambino Gesù Hospital, where doctors diagnosed him with lymphoblastic lymphoma and a large mass in his chest.
His family traveled to Rome with heavy hearts. The first 12 days were critical: Ignacio’s heart was exhausted, and at any moment he could suffer cardiac arrest. Twenty-four hours after doctors removed his life support, a serious complication arose — an injury to the femoral artery and a blood clot.
“They were the most difficult months of my life and at the same time the most beautiful, because it was the moment when I came closest to God while being on the cross,” Ignacio, now recovered, told ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News.
Ignacio was able to personally share the news of his recovery with Pope Leo XIV on Tuesday, May 12, at the entrance to the papal residence in Castel Gandolfo.
“I gave him the good news that I had been cured and that I was waiting for him in Madrid, since I was returning to Spain just a few days after that meeting,” he said, joyful at the prospect of the pope’s upcoming visit to Spain.
Throughout the ordeal, the Holy Father remained close to Ignacio’s family, whose lives changed completely after the diagnosis.
A few days after Ignacio was admitted to the hospital, Pope Leo XIV arrived unexpectedly in his hospital room, where Ignacio’s parents were praying tirelessly at his bedside. Ignacio was sedated and intubated at the time and was not aware of the visit. Even so, the pope wanted to be close to him and his family in what would become the first of three meetings between them.
The pope remained with the family for about half an hour before visiting other patients in the oncology ward. He prayed the Hail Mary and the Our Father with them, gave each person his blessing, and spoke about the Gospel, eternal life, and the will of God.
“We are made for heaven,” he told them.
Ignacio spent nine months in the hospital. During that time, he came close to death twice.
The pope’s closeness became a source of consolation for the family. It helped them breathe, look toward heaven, and entrust themselves to God. When Pope Leo XIV learned that Ignacio had been discharged, he made room in his schedule to receive the family at the Vatican.
Ignacio went there April 29 with his parents, Pedro Pablo and Carmen Gloria; his sister, Adela; and a family friend.
During the meeting, the pope asked about Ignacio’s medical situation. Shortly afterward, he went into another room with the young man for a private conversation. Ignacio himself had asked for that moment of intimacy, and the pope immediately agreed.
Throughout this path of suffering, the family said they felt sustained by prayer and by the many people who hoped for Ignacio’s recovery: young people praying with the pope, the Neocatechumenal communities to which the family belongs, convents, relatives, friends, believers, and nonbelievers alike.
“Faith helped me live this illness in a different way, for example by offering my sufferings for something or for someone,” Ignacio said. “Praying with my mother and father when I was in the hospital also helped me a lot — not only in prayer but also in not feeling alone, because I knew many people were praying for me.”
Ignacio said he experienced God’s love every day.
“I felt God close — more than close — in every detail and in every gift that I know came from him, and he also gave me the strength to fight this illness,” he said. “I was able to see him in myself and also in my mother.”
Almost a year has passed since the nightmare of Ignacio’s hospitalization and the pope’s first visit. Today, that chapter is behind him. The present is healing; the future is a reunion with the pope.
That reunion will take place during Pope Leo XIV’s upcoming apostolic visit to Spain. In Madrid, the Holy Father is expected to meet with the most vulnerable and with young people, celebrate Mass, encounter the local Church, and venerate Our Lady of Almudena.
And once again, he will meet Ignacio.
This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News.
Miami Catholic schools receive $15 million in state security funding after ‘months of advocacy’
Catholic schools in Miami will receive $15 million in security funding from the state government after successful petitioning by Floridaʼs Catholic bishops, the Archdiocese of Miami has announced.
The archdiocese said the eight-figure security package was part of the newly approved state budget, which was passed by legislators in Tallahassee on May 29. The funding came about after “months of advocacy and budget negotiations,” the archdiocese said.
"We prioritize the safety of our students in a day and age that has seen more anti-Catholic violence and generally more violence against schools,” archdiocesan schools Superintendent Jim Rigg said in the announcement.
The archdiocese said that a “broader statewide reimbursement program” for Catholic school security failed to pass the Legislature.
Rigg said in the archdiocesan announcement that schools have been using money to fund security measures “that could otherwise go toward textbooks, technology, and teacher salaries.”
“In some cases, schools are collecting special security fees from parents," he said.
Catholic schools have increased security amid shooting fears
Numerous Catholic and other Christian schools around the country have lately adopted enhanced security measures, particularly after the August 2025 shooting at Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis.
That shooting came after Catholic bishops in Minnesota had petitioned state lawmakers to provide security funding for nonpublic schools; the state government had failed to grant those requests.
Some schools have opted to hire security guards, while others have considered the possibility of allowing teachers to be armed while on campus.
Still others have turned to technology to increase student safety. Trinity Catholic School in Fort Smith, Arkansas, recently adopted an AI-bolstered security system that can spot school shooters and quickly alert law enforcement ahead of a potential mass shooting.
A Catholic school in Ohio has also deployed that system on its own campus.
After the Minneapolis shooting, Jason Adkins, the executive director of the Minnesota Catholic Conference, told “EWTN News In Depth” that school security is “a basic public safety issue that should be available to all students, irrespective of where they go to school.”
“Looking at school safety programs, nonprofit security grants, all these things — we have to take an all-of-the-above approach to looking at public policy solutions that limit gun violence in our communities,” he said.
Pope calls on Catholic universities to be authentic, instill ‘passion for the truth’
Catholic universities should reflect “authenticity as true disciples of Christ” as they guide students’ desire for knowledge into a passion for the truth, Pope Leo XIV told university presidents from the United States on Wednesday.
“As young men and women come to your colleges and universities looking to study a specific degree, oftentimes motivated by future job perspectives, yours is the noble task of guiding that desire for knowledge so that they may also ‘learn to seek and love the truth, to reflect on the meaning of life, and to recognize the dignity of every person,’” the pope said June 3, quoting from his encyclical Magnifica Humanitas, published in May.
Instilling a love for the truth “is not an easy feat,” he continued. “As you are well aware, seeking the truth requires not only learning and mentorship but also great effort. Unless Catholic education instills in students a true passion for the truth — and not only intellectual truth, but the truth that is Christ himself (cf. John 14:6) — we can hardly expect people to be willing to put forth the effort required to recognize truth and adapt one’s life accordingly.”
Leo addressed presidents, senior administrators, and faculty leaders from Catholic institutions of higher education belonging to the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities.
During the Rome Seminar, June 1–5, university leaders are meeting with senior Vatican officials and others to reflect on the opportunities and challenges faced by higher education today.
In his speech, the pope acknowledged the challenge of “the increasing fragmentation of knowledge.”
“While it is easy to find people who are experts in a particular field of study, many of these individuals ‘struggle to find direction in their lives, partly due to an inability to connect information with deeper knowledge or maintain a sense of purpose,’” he said, quoting from Magnifica Humanitas.
Specialized experts “often lack a global vision of reality that is capable of uniting not only the various fields of knowledge but also the multiple aspects of life and the inner longings of the human heart,” he said.
He invited Catholic educational institutions to be a “living environment in which the Christian vision permeates every discipline and every interaction,” as Leo wrote in his 2025 apostolic letter Drawing New Maps of Hope.
“Your authenticity as true disciples of Christ,” he said, “will certainly assist you in transmitting the living Gospel in such a way that those entrusted to you can truly encounter the Lord and discover in the Catholic faith the unifying vision that truth alone can provide.”
On the challenges of technological advances, the pope reflected on the prolific use of artificial intelligence, making it “increasingly difficult to evaluate the work of students, requiring educators to adapt their methods creatively to ensure the integral human formation of those in their care.”
“We must be willing to invest generously in the education of future generations,” he said. “It is crucial that young men and women learn to engage positively with new technologies, while at the same time truly developing their God-given skills and capacities to reason, to think critically and commit knowledge to memory, thus preparing them to shape responsibly the world to come.”
Bangladesh church bombing: 25 years on, Catholic victims still await justice
GOPALGANJ, Bangladesh — Twenty-five years after a bomb attack during Sunday Mass killed 10 Catholics and injured more than 50 at Most Holy Redeemer Church in Baniarchar, southern Bangladesh, the parish priest says his community has all but given up hope of seeing anyone brought to justice.
“We donʼt expect any more justice, because we, the minority, will not get justice in this country,” Father David Gharami, parish priest of the church, told EWTN News. “We Catholics are a minority among the minorities. Thatʼs why no government pays attention to us.”
On June 3, 2001, at least 10 people were killed and more than 50 injured when a bomb exploded during Sunday Mass at Most Holy Redeemer Church in Baniarchar, in Gopalganj district. A quarter of a century later, police have yet to file a full charge sheet in the case.
Gharami said the parish has grown weary of seeking justice from the government. “For the past four to five years, no investigating officer has been looking into our case,” he said. He believes the attack was carried out by a religious extremist group or for political or social motives.
“On this day, we offer a Mass for the souls of those who died and pay floral tributes at their graves,” he said.
Nine of the 10 people killed in the bombing were between the ages of 20 and 25, and one was in his 40s, according to Premananda Halder, a local schoolteacher.
At the time of the attack, Sheikh Hasinaʼs Awami League was in power; Gopalganj is Hasinaʼs home district, and she visited the site after the bombing. The Bangladesh Nationalist Party won the parliamentary election held on Feb. 12 this year. Successive governments have come and gone, but no one has been brought to justice for the bombing.
Lalita Biswas, 46, a Catholic and mother of one, has sought justice for 25 years. Her husband, Satish Biswas, was among the 10 killed.
“I am tired of seeking justice, I donʼt want to seek justice anymore. If I get justice for my husbandʼs murder, I will be happy,” Biswas told EWTN News. “I will not get my husband back, or the son his father, but if we get justice, I will be able to see the punishment of those who killed him.”
Twenty-five years later, Bangladeshi police have yet to complete their investigation. Some 38 suspected militants have been arrested over the years, but none has confessed, and the investigating officer has been changed at least 22 times in 25 years.
The current investigating officer could not be reached. A former investigating officer, speaking on condition of anonymity, told EWTN News that police were still working on the case.
“The investigating officer has been changed repeatedly, and a lack of sufficient evidence is prolonging the inquiry. But I hope police will be able to submit a full report soon,” he said.
Former Louisiana priest receives 99 years in prison after sex abuse conviction
A priest who formerly served in Louisiana and Texas has been handed nearly a century in prison after being convicted of several counts of sexual abuse.
Father Anthony Odiong received a 99-year sentence on June 2 for three counts of sexual assault after jurors in McLennan County, Texas, found him guilty on May 29, according to local news reports.
The priest reportedly served at Baylor Universityʼs St. Peterʼs Catholic Student Center in Waco, Texas, from 2007 to 2012 and later served in Luling, Louisiana, from 2015 to 2023. Prosecutors had said that Odiong used his position of authority as a priest to facilitate the sex crimes.
Odiong was arrested in July 2024 in Ave Maria, Florida. Authorities had been investigating an allegation of sexual assault committed by Odiong when they said they discovered child pornography in his possession. He was extradited to Texas after the arrest.
Upon arriving in Texas he was held on $2.5 million bond after authorities judged him a significant flight risk. Arrest warrants claimed that he had “access to immense amounts of money, contacts with money who follow him and provide heavily through financial means, and access to passports and multiple avenues to flee the country.”
Prosecutors also pointed to DNA evidence indicating that Odiong had fathered a child during one of his sexual assaults. The state described him as “a calculated predator who exploited vulnerable parishioners for decades while hiding behind a collar.”
In addition to the lengthy prison stretch, Odiong was also fined $10,000 for each charge as well.
India tribunal urges end to 'impunity' as anti-Christian violence climbs
Amid steadily rising incidents of anti-Christian violence in India, Christian and secular groups came together in a “Peopleʼs Tribunal,” titled “Caravan of Love,” that has urged the Indian government to end “impunity for non-state actors.”
“A recurring concern throughout the proceedings was the alleged role of state institutions. Participants described instances in which police officers failed to protect victims, registered cases against those who had been attacked, delayed investigations, or pressured communities into so-called compromise agreements,” the tribunal said in a statement released June 2.
More than 200 leaders and delegates of Christian networks and action groups, lawyers, researchers, and members of Hindu and Muslim groups took part in the June 1 tribunal in New Delhi.
The event also heard testimony from 20 survivors of anti-Christian violence, “documenting a disturbing escalation of violence and discrimination targeting Christians.”
“The Tribunal [proceedings] examined attacks on places of worship, pastors and priests, social and economic boycotts, denial of burial rights, expulsions from villages, the role of Hindutva (Hindu nationalist) organizations, and the conduct of political leaders, police and judicial institutions,” the statement said.
“The constitutional guarantees of freedom of conscience, religion and equal citizenship are increasingly under threat,” said John Dayal, a senior journalist and outspoken Catholic activist who organized and coordinated the tribunal.
“We want the state governments to obey Supreme Court directions in this regard to end the rampant impunity. Then only, the atrocities will go down,” Dayal told EWTN News June 3.
A sharp rise since 2014
Sporadic anti-Christian violence turned endemic after the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to power under Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2014, with incidents of anti-Christian violence shooting up from 127 in 2014 to 834 by 2024.
In the run-up to the national tribunal, Dayal said, the investigative team visited troubled spots in Chhattisgarh state in central India in April and neighboring Odisha state in May, as these BJP-ruled states had reported a higher number of violent and oppressive incidents of late.
“There is systematic denial of burial rights — one of the gravest forms of humiliation inflicted upon Christian communities,” said Father Ajay Singh, former director of the Odisha Forum for Social Action of the Catholic Church.
Briefing the tribunal on the situation in Odisha, Singh recounted cases in which “funeral processions were obstructed, burial in village graveyards was denied, and even the bodies of deceased Christians were allegedly removed and buried against the wishes of families.”
“I was part of three fact-finding teams that visited troubled spots in Odisha this year. The situation has become so shocking that even [Christian] dead bodies are dug out” and subject to reconversion ceremonies, Singh told EWTN News.
‘A systematic campaign of exclusion’
A.C. Michael, a Catholic and coordinator of the United Christian Forum, which monitors atrocities against the community, told the tribunal about the “growing normalization of hostility towards Christian prayer meetings and places of worship.”
“Peaceful acts of worship are increasingly portrayed as threats to public order and national interest while there is no Christian representation in statutory minority institutions,” Michael pointed out.
Despite rising violence against Christians, the quota for a Christian member on the autonomous National Commission for Minorities has not been filled for six years under the BJP government.
“Accusations of conversion have become a recurring pretext for violence,” pointed out Vijayesh Lal, general secretary of the Evangelical Fellowship of India, who said that “recent violence has been justified through allegations of religious conversion.”
Siju Thomas, director of Alliance Defending Freedom India, lamented the “social and economic boycotts, expulsions and ostracization of Christians, especially of newly converted families and members of independent congregations.”
“Denial of access to community resources, social isolation, displacement and restrictions on burial rights have become instruments of coercion … [with] misuse of laws intended to protect Adivasi communities, to target Christian Adivasis and restrict their rights,” he said.
Harsh Mander, one of the eminent social activists, concluded the tribunal, deploring that widespread anti-Christian violence “could not be understood as isolated acts of prejudice or spontaneous expressions of hostility.”
“Rather, they revealed a systematic campaign of exclusion that threatened the constitutional promise of equal citizenship,” said Mander, who quit the elite Indian Administrative Service (IAS) to protest the 2002 carnage of Muslims in Gujarat state under Modi, who was then the stateʼs chief minister.
The findings of the Peopleʼs Tribunal, Dayal said, will be published in book form in two months. “What we have recorded are shocking and graphic, and these will run into around 300 pages,” he said.