INDIA
Vatican Insider
One of New Delhi’s most famous Catholic activists is applying Francis clean-up operation in his own country. “In Orissa too people walked away with donations”
GIORGIO BERNARDELLI
ROME
“Can corruption be banished from the Indian Church?”: A decidedly striking title. But what is even more striking is who wrote and published the article. The person who posed the question regarding corruption and misuse of money, not just outside the Christian community but also within it, is no anti-clericalist. It is the well known Indian Catholic journalist, John Dayal and his article was published on Asia’s most important Catholic news website, UCANews.
The way Dayal – who is secretary of the All India Christian Council – sees it, is simple: we can all see how much energy Francis is putting into condemning corruption, we hear him speak out against the idolatry of money and we are all witness to the reforms that are underway to achieve greater financial transparency in the Vatican. But doesn’t all this also lead the Church in India to examine its conscience? The corruption issue is one of the most contentious issues in this big Asian country: A law that would allow members of parliament convicted of corruption and given sentences that are not final to continue working in politics is being hotly debated. A way to get around the laws passed at the height of Anna Hazare’s anti-corruption movement. Anna Hazare is a controversial Hindu activist who presents himself as the new Ghandi.
In actual fact, corruption is widespread in India and extends beyond the political sphere. “One of the untold sad stories of recent times in India is the corruption within churches who distributed aid following the pogrom against Christians in Orissa in 2007 and 2008. Some took cash from donors and walked away with it; others diverted funds to unrelated projects, splashed out on new SUVs or refurbished their own houses with money “saved” from rebuilding the devastated huts of the Dalits and the Tribals. No police complaints have been registered, and it remains something confined to the rumour mill. Since it was not government money, official agencies cannot confront the allegations unless someone files a complaint. But it highlights a pervasive problem in India that doesn’t spare the Catholic Church,” Dayal said.
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