A national-level group of Catholic women in India has expressed distress about Bishop Franco Mulakkal visiting Pope Francis in the Vatican.

The “Sisters in Solidarity” on February 21 wrote to the Pope that they were distressed to read about Bishop Mulakkal’s February 8 meeting with the pontiff. They said they read in an Indian newspaper dated February 15 that the Pope was “glad to hear that (Bishop Mulakkal) had won the case and consoled him for his suffering.”

Kochurani Abraham, a feminist theologian and a group member, told Matters India February 25 that they could deliver the letter to the Pope’s office and concerned dicasteries only on February 24 through a Rome-based priest. Copies of the letter were also sent to the apostolic nuncio in New Delhi and Church leaders in India, Abraham said.

The letter apprised the Pope that the rape case involving Bishop Mulakkal is not over as…