Vatican Should Pay For "Collective Sin": Dalit Christians

New Delhi: Good Friday, April 18, 2014: The Poor Christian Liberation Movement (PCLM) has blamed Church Authorities of conspiring to include Dalit Christians in the Scheduled Caste list, which is not acceptable to them. PCLM appealed to the Church leadership to take steps to end discrimination within Church structures.

In an open letter to His Holiness Pope Francis and Church authorities, the PCLM President R. L. Francis said Dalits converted to Christianity to preserve their dignity, thereby losing out on reservation benefits available to them under the Constitution.

Demanding compensation for the 25 million Dalit Christians, Mr Francis said Dalits have suffered heavy economic losses by foregoing reservation and converting to Christianity to get respect and dignity in the Christian society.

"The US Church authorities and Vatican has paid millions of dollars in compensation for sexual perversion of few of its priests," he said, asking why Indian Church authorities could not pay for a more serious "collective sin" (Astha Ka Balatkar) factor.

In a press release, Mr. Francis said the efforts of the Indian Church authorities to put Dalit Christians yet again in the scheduled Caste list would promote casteism in Christianity. "It's a mockery of Jesus Christ' sacrifice on the Cross," he said.

R L Francis said that, "Good Friday is a time of repentance when the faithful are supposed to admit their guilt and find ways for improvement. Hence it is appropriate to seek justice from the Church in India for the poor Christians, who have been wronged by Church's policies,"

R L Francis
National President, PCLM
Ph. 9810108046