Kerala bishops visit rape-accused colleague in jail

KERALA (INDIA)
Gulf News

October 1, 2018

By Akhel Mathew

Another priest allegedly visited convent to pressure nuns into diluting their case against Mulakkal

Thiruvananthapuram: Three bishops in Kerala on Monday visited the bishop of Jalandhar, Franco Mulakkal, who is being held in a sub-jail in Pala, Kottayam district, over rape charges.
The three who paid him a visit were bishop Mathew Arackal of Kanjirapally Syro-Malabar diocese, Jose Pulickal, the auxiliary bishop of the same diocese, and Samuel Mar Iranios, an auxiliary bishop of the Malankara Church.

Mulakkal has been accused of raping a nun attached to the Kuravilangad convent in Kottayam district 13 times between 2014 and 2016. The bishop has denied the allegation.
The visit by the three bishops comes a day after the prominent Changanacherry diocese published an encyclical to churches under its control on Sunday, offering indirect support for the jailed bishop.

The encyclical also suggested that some within the Catholic Church were working against the church’s interests.

On social media, the visit of the three bishops was criticised, with one commentator saying that it was a tragedy that bishops now had to visit a colleague in jail, and another stating that bishops would not take such efforts to visit a poor man in jail.

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