'Targeting' Church under cover of nun case injustice:KCBC

The Kerala Catholic Bishops' Council (KCBC) Monday claimed some vested interests were attempting to tarnish the image of the entire church in the wake of arrest of bishop Franco Mulakkal over rape charges and termed it as an 'injustice'.

The arrest and remanding of Bishop Franco was "painful", and the Church "regrets" the developments that led to the present situation, the KCBC said on a day when the clergyman, arrested on Sept 21 on charges of raping a nun, was remanded to 12 days judicial custody by a court in Kottayam district.

The KCBC assured that the church would surely have a better mechanism to rectify mistakes within it.

A statement issued by KCBC spokesperson Fr Varghese Vallikkat alleged that said some vested interests, a section of media and some disgruntled persons within the church were trying to weaken the Catholic church and put the bishops in bad light under the cover of the nun issue.

KCBC wanted the faithful to identify such forces and be cautious against their effort to "target and humiliate" the entire church in the name of the allegations against an individual.

When a renowned journalist of the country was arrested in a sexual assault case some time ago, all media personnel were not targeted. Similarly, all politicians and ministers were not insulted when a Kerala minister had to resign over a sexual abuse case, it said.

But, the whole church and the bishop community came under attack when allegations against a Catholic bishop surfaced, the KCBC claimed.

The church was of the opinion that it was "injustice" by some vested interests and a section of media to target the church even before the investigation in the case was over, it said.

The statement comes in the backdrop of a month-long agitation, led by a group of nuns in Kochi demanding the arrest of bishop Mulakkal, garnering widespread support from various sections of society.