Vatican recalls Gandhi amid Indian persecution

BY ED WEST
ME VATICAN has invoked the memory of Mahatma Gandhi in an appeal for an end to antiChristian violence in India.
In a written address to Hindus to mark Diwali, the Hindu festival of light, Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, head of the Pontifical Council for InterReligious Dialogue, said Christian and Hindu leaders needed to encourage a belief in nonviolence among followers.
In the document Christians and Hindus: Together in Favour of Non-violence, the Vatican official pointed to Gandhi, the Indian political leader who gained independence through a campaign of non-violence.
"During the course of [Gandhi's] struggle for freedom, he realised that 'an eye for a eye, and soon the whole world is blind' ," Cardinal Tauran said. "He is a model for non-violence and he led by example to the point of laying down his life because of his refusal to engage in violence."
Thirty-eight Christians have been killed in Orissa, eastern India, in a massacre that began after the murder of a Hindu nationalist leader, Swami Lakshmanananda.
Although Communists are still thought to be behind the killing, Hindu nationalists used it as an excuse to attack Chrisdans. In one of the worst incidents Sister Meena Lalita was gang-raped by four men in Kandhamal district. Extremists accused priests and reli gious of undermining Indian society by spreading Christianity among India's poorest caste.
Last Friday a priest attacked in Orissa died in hospital, two months after a brutal mob left him for dead. Fr Bernard Digal was in the village of Sankharakhole when violence broke out. After his car was set alight he walked to a neighbouring village where a mob attacked him and two others with iron bars and knives, stripping him naked and leaving him by a roadside.
Cardinal Tauran said: "In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus called on His disciples to love their enemies, to pray for those who hated them. In the Hindu tradition, non-violence is one of the more important teach ings. Mahatma Gandhi, the father of the Indian nation, is respected and held in high regard by people of different generations around the world for his complete dedication to the service of humanity. During the course of his struggle for freedom, he realised that 'an eye for an eye, and soon the whole world is blind'.
"Throughout his life, he [Gandhi] developed among others, the concept of Ahimsa (non-violence)," the Cardinal said. "He is a model for nonviolence and he led by example to the point of laying down his life because of his refusal to engage in violence. Nonviolence is not merely a tactical manoeuvre but is the attitude of one who, as the Pope affirmed, 'is so convinced of God's love and power' that he is not afraid to tackle evil with the weapons of love and truth alone. Love of one's enemy is the revolution of love, a love that does not rely ultimately on human resources but is a gift of God?'
The Orissa massacre took place at the same time as Iraq's Christian community endured their worst week of violence. Thirteen people were murdered in Mosul by armed gangs seeking to empty the city of his remaining Christians. Mosul is disputed territory, with a mixed Arab, Kurdish and Assyrian Christian population, while the Nineveh Plains to the east is home to the largest concentration of Christians, as well as other minorities.
On Saturday Iraqi and British protestors marched on Downing Street to demand protection for christian refugees. Representatives from the Iraqi community presented a petition to the Prime Minister demanding greater protection for Christians. Several thousand Christians remain displaced.
Pope Benedict has expressed concern for both peoples, and has appealed to their governments to provide greater protection for their minorities. In an address in St Peter's Square he said: "Spare no effort so that legality and civil coexistence can be quickly taken up again, and that the honest and loyal citizens may know that they can rely on adequate protection from the state."