The resignation of the rape accused Franco Mulakkal as bishop of Jalandhar diocese, although a welcome move, does not bring closure to the fight for justice by the victim as well as activists and human rights organisations.
Pope Francis, the head of the Catholic church, accepted the resignation and bestowed on Mulakkal the status of bishop emeritus. This means Mulakkal faces no canonical restrictions on his ministry, allowing him to perform all the duties of a priest but without the powers of a bishop.
The reason cited by Mulakkal for his resignation that “Jalandhar diocese needs a new bishop” is inadequate and ambiguous. The Vatican’s clarification that the move was not a disciplinary action but done for the ‘good of the diocese’ is baffling.
Many, especially those following this case closely, are trying to unravel the vague statements of Mulakkal and the Vatican. Indeed, the diocese needs a new bishop to serve as advisor and mentor to churches. Is that the sole reason Mulakkal has tendered his resignation after so long? Mulakkal, 59, has at least a decade before the mandatory retirement age of 70.
Didn’t he want to continue as bishop where he served from 2013 to 2018 until he was relieved temporarily of his pastoral duties following rape allegations?
“The Vatican has judged Franco Mulakkal as unfit to be the bishop of the Jalandhar Diocese of the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church. So, he has been removed from office for the sake of the diocese. To that extent, it is a welcome step,” Valson Thampu, theologian and former principal of St Stephen’s College, New Delhi told this writer.
“But I feel that the Vatican has lost an opportunity by conferring the honorific title of Bishop Emeritus on Franco. To those familiar with the facts and circumstances of this case, this can only seem like a joke,” opined Thampu, who has been following the case closely.
To recapitulate the facts of the case, it was in 2018 that Mulakkal, who hails from Kerala, was arrested on rape charges after a nun (not publicly identified) of the Missionaries of Jesus, governed by the Jalandhar Diocese, accused him of raping her multiple times between 2014 and 2018 during his visits to a mission home in Kerala. Later, a few other nuns backed the accuser’s charges.
Mulakkal, who became the first Catholic bishop in India to be arrested on rape charges, has consistently denied the allegations and in early 2022, the Additional District and Sessions Court, Kottayam acquitted Mulakkal of the rape charges as the prosecution failed to provide sufficient evidence against him.
The verdict sparked protests not only by human rights and women’s groups but also on social media. The nun has moved the Kerala High Court against the verdict, continuing the fight for justice.
Alongside the nun and a few of her fellow sisters from the convent, organisations such as the Joint Christian Council (JCC) of Kerala and Save Our Sisters are determined to carry on the fight for justice.
“We are hoping that this resignation will bring some respite to the tears of the nuns who were wronged. The JCC, the survivor and the nuns who support her will continue the fight till Mulakkal is punished by the law,” Felix Pullodan, President of JCC, told a national media house.
Another issue that emerges from this pertains to Sr Lucy Kalappura, who was punished in the extreme for expressing solidarity with the nuns who agitated against Bishop Mulakkal and to secure justice for the raped nun. Rather than expel her from the convent, Sr Lucy should be feted and honoured for her courageous stand.
“Unless the indefensible action against Sr Lucy is
rescinded, the Vatican cannot claim to have done justice in this Franco matter,” said Thampu.
A third issue that emerges from this ignoble episode relates to the bishops whose intervention and protection the raped nun sought. All of them disowned her. Do they not stand exposed now that Mulakkal has resigned and is unlikely to be a bishop?
Pope Francis, since taking charge in 2013, has laid down strict provisions to address sexual abuse in the church. He publicly stated in 2019 that sexual abuse of nuns was widespread in the Catholic church. He also noted that the victims, numbering thousands, endured the outrage silently for
‘fear of reprisal’ from their powerful tormentors and exhorted Catholics to stand by the nuns languishing in sexual slavery.
It must be said that Pope Francis has indeed taken stern action against abusers, dismissing two Chilean bishops for their sexual abuse of minors and defrocking another archbishop in the US who was found guilty of sexual misconduct.
In India, the nun-rape case has exposed the pathetic inner realities of the church and, unless this is addressed, the same sordid drama could repeat itself ad nauseum.
(The writer is a Bengaluru- based senior journalist)