Vatican: The February issue of ‘Women Church World’ expressed sorrow over the plight of nuns facing sexual abuses by priests while lending support to the nuns fighting for justice against Bishop Franco Mulakkal of the the Archdiocese of Jalandhar – who has been accused of raping a 44-year old nun 13-times between 2014 and 2016.
The article in the magazine which is distributed along side the Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano, stated that the religious sisters across the world for years have not reported offences against them for years for of retaliation.
The article further focuses on the Bishop Franco Mulakkal case in India stating that in September 2018, women religious in India made global headlines when they staged a public protest; marching to the High Court in Kerala to demand the arrest of a bishop alleged to have raped a nun 13 times over two years. The nun first reported the alleged rape to the church a year earlier, only to receive no response. When she filed a complaint to the police in June 2018, the police did not take action for 70 days, causing the nuns to stage the protest, the first by religious sisters in the country.
The Catholic Church has remained silent on the case and the Vatican probe into the matter has not started as earlier announced in October.
Till now a prime witness had been mysteriously found dead and the Catholic Church is currently working on a strategy to divide the unity of the nuns in order to isolate the victim; through various forms of harassments and threats of eviction from the convent.
“Women Church World,” which is published in Italian, French and Spanish, last year made headlines with an issue devoted to “work” and an article denouncing how nuns are often treated like servants by cardinals and bishops, for whom they cook and clean for next to no pay.
