Pope Benedict XVI will reflect on the plight of Christians in India this Easter when he leads the Way of the Cross ceremony on Friday at the Colosseum in Rome.The Vatican has asked Indian Archbishop Thomas Menamparampil to write the meditations for the ceremony, which depicts Christ's final hours leading up to his crucifixion.
Archbishop Menamparampil's reflections will focus on the question of evil in the world, on pain and on the various forms of suffering which are, he writes, a "symbol of the presence of the cross of Christ in our lives".
Menamparampil "will refer to Christians who suffer persecution in India and in other countries, as well to the violence that destroys ethnic and religious groups, and to conflicts fuelled by economic interests," the Vatican said in a statement.
Attacks by suspected Hindu extremists on Christians and their churches in the eastern Indian state of Orissa last year left at least 35 people dead. The violence also spread to other states, including the western coastal state of Karnataka, a state on India's west coast, where at least 11 churches were destroyed.
India is officially secular but most of its one billion-plus citizens are Hindu. Christians make up about 2.5 percent of the population and Muslims, 13.4 percent.
It is the second consecutive year that the pontiff has chosen to draw attention to the plight of Christians in Asia. Last Easter's Way of the Cross reflections were written by Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun, bishop of Hong Kong.
Zen, has frequently criticised China, which broke ties with the Vatican in 1951 after the communists came to power and set up a separate Catholic church outside the authority of the Holy See.
Catholics in China are only allowed to worship with the state-sanctioned church.
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(Source: AKI)