Christians ask Vatican for ‘urgent intervention’ on violence amid envoy’s visit to India

Bangalore, India, Jul 24, 2025 / 11:35 am (CNA).

Christians in India recently urged the Vatican to respond forcefully to rising violence in the country amid a state visit by Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, the Vatican’s secretary for relations with states.

The Vatican said the prelate was visiting the country from July 13–19 to “strengthen bonds of friendship and collaboration.” Besides meeting church officials, Gallagher had an official meeting with Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, India’s foreign minister, on July 17 in New Delhi.

Describing the meeting as a “good conversation,” Jaishankar said in a post on X that the leaders discussed “the importance of faith and the need for dialogue and diplomacy to address conflicts.”

On the same day, a memorandum drafted by the United Christian Forum was presented to Gallagher, one that documented a steady rise in anti-Christian violence under the regime of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has headed the pro-Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government for 11 years.

The Christian group appealed for “urgent intervention” by the Vatican to the rising incidents of violence and harassment targeting Christians across the country.

The appeal said that 834 cases of violence and hostility against Christians were reported in India in 2024, up from 734 in 2023 and from 127 in 2014, when Modi took office.

Though the Vatican envoy visited the Jesuit Vidyajyoti seminary in New Delhi, saying Mass and interacting with the theology students on matters of formation, dialogue, and other concerns, principal Father Rajkumar Joseph declined to provide details of the meetings, telling CNA that it was a “private visit.”

“Perhaps the all-round silence suits the government,” vocal lay Catholic leader John Dayal, based in New Delhi, told CNA on July 22.

Jesuit Father Cedric Prakash expressed disappointment over what he called the “Vatican tokenism,” arguing that atrocities against Christians should have been brought up in the discussion with the government.

The United Christian Forum memorandum cites allegations of “fraudulent conversion” as a primary reason for the rising violence against Christians, including the detention of hundreds.

The highest number of incidents in 2024, the group said, was reported from northern Uttar Pradesh (209), followed by Chhattisgarh (165) — both states ruled by the Hindu nationalist BJP.

Odisha state, which has been under BJP rule for a year, has also recently seen violence against Christians.

Dead bodies of Christians have been dug up for “reconversion ceremonies” and Christians have been prevented from burying their dead in tribal areas of Odisha. Meanwhile, two senior priests in the Sambalpur Diocese — including one in his 90s — were recently brutally attacked, tied up, and threatened with death if they returned for missionary work there.

Following a June 21 attack that injured 31 Christians of Kotamateru village in the Malkangiri district, with dozens of Christians also expelled from the village, the state witnessed a series of protests by Christians urging the government to act against the Hindu fundamentalists.