Rape accused Bishop Franco Mulakkal features on official church calendar, believers burn it in protest
A photo of Kerala Roman Catholic Church Bishop Franco Mulakkal, who has been accused of sexually abusing a nun, featuring on the official calendar for 2021 by the Thrissur diocese in the State has triggered protests, with some followers of the church burning its copies at Kollam.
The new official calendar for 2021, features the photograph of Bishop Franco Mulakkal, along with other Bishops, indicating his birthday.
According to protesters, every year the church issues calendars to houses of believers for a nominal charge. However, since the last two years, photo of rape accused Bishop Franco Mulakkal was being printed in March month’s page.
“In the past years also people had raised objections against this and had even burned calendars. But this year also it has been repeated,” The News Minute quoted Riju Kanjookaran, convenor of Save Our Sister, the group which backed the protest of five Kerala nuns against Franco Mulakkal, as saying.
Bishop Franco Mulakkal, is accused of raping a 44-year-old Kerala nun, also a mother superior, of a Missionaries of Jesus convent in the state, multiple times between 2014 and 2016. He was arrested in September in 2018, but is now out on bail.
But Mullakkal denied her allegations, saying he was framed after he took action against her for financial irregularities at the convent. Later the special investigation team of Kerala police arrested him after several rounds of questioning. He was removed from the post of bishop later.
