Rimini, Italy, Aug 30, 2008 / 04:52 am
Vatican foreign minister Archbishop Dominique Mamberti on Friday said the anti-Christian attacks in India and the decline of the Christian population in Iraq shows religious freedom is still a pressing matter. Decrying what he called “Christianophobia,” he called for anti-Christian violence to be combated “as decisively as ‘Islamophobia’ and anti-Semitism.”
At least 13 people have died in attacks against Christians in the eastern India state of Orissa. Thousands have sought shelter in government camps after a Hindu leader’s murder by apparent Communists provoked mobs of Hindus to burn more than a dozen churches and attack Christians.
Hindu groups often accuse Christians of bribing poor tribes and low-caste Hindus to convert to Christianity. Christians deny the accusations, saying such conversions are voluntary abandonments of India’s complex caste system.
Archbishop Mamberti, speaking at a conference titled “Protection and the Right to Religious Freedom,” said the violence in India shows that religious liberty is a vital part of international relations and human dignity. He reported that 21 Catholic missionaries were killed worldwide in 2007, and also lamented the halving of the Iraqi Christian population.