(Vatican Radio) The Archdiocese of Bombay is very concerned about the demolition of the cross in Bandra, said the archdiocesan spokesman Fr. Nigel Barrett expressing the Catholic community’s sentiments follwoing the demolition of a century-old cross on Saturday in the Western Indian city of Mumbai. “In fact, the Archbishop of Bombay, Cardinal Oswald Gracias described the destruction of this historic roadside cross ‘deeply disturbing’”, Fr. Barrett told Vatican Radio. “Officials of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), the civic body that governs Mumbai, the capital city of Maharashtra state, pulled down a cross near Bazar Road in Bandra on April 29, on directives from Bombay High Court. Not long after, local Catholics put up a makeshift cross amid the rubble to “reassure” the community. The removal of the cross was part of the directive of Bombay High Court asking BMC to demolish all &lrm...
(Vatican Radio) The Archdiocese of Bombay is very concerned about the demolition of the cross in Bandra, said the archdiocesan spokesman Fr. Nigel Barrett expressing the Catholic community’s sentiments follwoing the demolition of a century-old cross on Saturday in the Western Indian city of Mumbai. “In fact, the Archbishop of Bombay, Cardinal Oswald Gracias described the destruction of this historic roadside cross ‘deeply disturbing’”, Fr. Barrett told Vatican Radio. “Officials of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), the civic body that governs Mumbai, the capital city of Maharashtra state, pulled down a cross near Bazar Road in Bandra on April 29, on directives from Bombay High Court. Not long after, local Catholics put up a makeshift cross amid the rubble to “reassure” the community.
The removal of the cross was part of the directive of Bombay High Court asking BMC to demolish all illegal religious structures that have come up after September 29, 2009. As many as 32 temples and 6 crosses from H west ward were deemed against the Development Plan of the city. However, Catholic Church officials, local Catholics as well Bombay Catholic Sabha, the lay Catholic association contend the cross was erected around 1895 on private property, and the BMC action amounts to insulting the religion.
Well over 1,500 people protested on Wednesday in Mumbai, demanding the BMC re-build the cross, Fr. Barrett said. He said the Catholic community feesl the BMC "misinterpreted the High Court order" in tearing down the cross. Everything asked for by the BMC was presented by the Catholic community. Despite all this, the bombay archdiocesan spokesman said, the Assistant Municipal Commissioner went ahead witht he demolition. This "shows a highhandedness in the individual's part," Fr. Barrett said.
Here is an excerpt of what Fr. Nigel Barrett told Vatican Radio on Wednesday:
Pope Francis waves while traveling by boat in Venice, Italy, for a meeting with young people at the Basilica della Madonna della Salute on April 28, 2024. Earlier in the day he met with inmates at a women's prison. / Credit: Daniel Ibañez/CNARome Newsroom, Apr 28, 2024 / 08:00 am (CNA).Pope Francis opened his one-day visit to Venice on Sunday morning with a meeting with female inmates where he reaffirmed the importance of fraternity and human dignity, noting that prison can be a place of new beginnings. "A stay in prison can mark the beginning of something new, through the rediscovery of the unsuspected beauty in us and in others, as symbolized by the artistic event you are hosting and the project to which you actively contribute," the pope said to the female inmates gathered in the intimate courtyard of the Women's Prison on the Island of Giudecca. Pope Francis left the Vatican by helicopter at approximately 6:30 in the mo...
Pope Francis prays in front of the tomb of St. Mark the Evangelist inside St. Mark's Basilica in Venice on April 28, 2024. / Credit: Daniel Ibañez/CNARome Newsroom, Apr 28, 2024 / 09:35 am (CNA).Pope Francis had a full slate of events Sunday during his day trip to Venice, a trip that tied together a message of unity and fraternity with the artistic patrimony of a city that has been a privileged place of encounter across the centuries. "Faith in Jesus, the bond with him, does not imprison our freedom. On the contrary, it opens us to receive the sap of God's love, which multiplies our joy, takes care of us like a skilled vintner, and brings forth shoots even when the soil of our life becomes arid," the pope said to over 10,000 pilgrims gathered in St. Mark's Square. Framing his homily during the Mass on the theme of unity, one of the central points articulated throughout several audiences spread across the morning, Pope Francis reminded Christians: "Remaining ...
Prayer house at San Simeone, Italy, September 2012. / Credit: Courtesy of Ricostruttori nella preghieraRome, Italy, Apr 28, 2024 / 06:00 am (CNA).Across Italy there are houses of prayer run by the Ricostruttori (Reconstructors) community, a Catholic movement dedicated to people who are far from the Church but attracted to spirituality, particularly Eastern meditation and Buddhist practices. The Reconstructors was founded in 1978 by Jesuit Father Gian Vittorio Cappelletto. "During the postconciliar period, the Church was faced with the need for new forms of evangelization and apostolate, to reach out to people who were drifting away," Don Roberto Rondanina, priest and superior of the Ricostruttori, explained to CNA. "It was a time when Eastern meditation, Hinduism, Buddhism, the New Age ... were beginning to spread in Europe." "Father Cappelletto, who lived in Turin, sought to understand the meaning of this 'flight to the East' and felt the need to find new forms of sp...
