Saji Thomas

A judge in Kottayam, Kerala, issued a warrant after the prelate failed to appear in court July 13 to hear charges against him. Mulakkal is accused of raping a nun multiple times from 2014 to 2016.

There are 12 sisters in India who are doctors taking part in Corona Care, a global counseling network to support those worried about the coronavirus and those needing immediate medical guidance. They say it's a way to help heal human suffering.

A district court in Kottayam has directed Bishop Franco Mulakkal to stand trial next week. The order has intensified the demand from some that the church should remove him as bishop of Jalandhar.

The rape case against Bishop Franco Mulakkal took a new turn over the weekend when a new allegation of sexual misconduct against the prelate emerged a day before he was to appear in court in Kerala, India.

The lawyer for Bishop Franco Mulakkal of Jalandhar, India, filed an application in district court here on Jan. 25 to dismiss all charges against the prelate in the alleged rapes of a Catholic sister.

Bishop Franco Mulakkal is accused of raping a nun multiple times. He appeared in court Nov. 30, when two guarantors for his bail extension submitted their documents. The judge extended the bail and set a new court date for early next year.

Kottayam, India - The trial of Jalandhar Bishop Franco Mulakkal, accused of raping a Catholic nun multiple times, was to begin Nov. 11, but has been postponed to Nov. 30 due to the judge's absence.

"We realize that the liberating vow of obedience to God has to be reclaimed. We need to challenge and resist stereotypes and binaries that keep women in positions of subservience and enslavement."

Sr. Lissy Vadakkel, member of the 130-year-old Franciscan Clarist Congregation in Kerala, is designated as witness No. 2 in India's nun rape case against Bishop Franco Mulakkal of Jalandhar. She says, "Being a preacher, I am bound to pray for all those who persecute me and I am doing it." 

The case of an Indian bishop charged with raping a nun recently took a major step forward. The case has rekindled coverage on sisters’ abuse at the hands of clergy; prompted women religious to decry abuse, and divided India’s Catholic Church.

More than 1,500 nuns came together with an estimated 1,300 other Catholics to correct a negative portrayal of religious life they say has arisen in wake of rape charges against bishop.