Anger as an Indian Court Acquits Catholic Bishop of Charge of Repeatedly Raping a Nun

Bishop Franco Mulakkal
Judge ordered acquittal of charge of raping a nun

Kerala court clears bishop in nun's rape | BBC

In a verdict which shocked and angered the leaders of women's groups who supported the nun, sessions Judge G Gopakumar, in a brief order last Friday, declared that the prosecution had failed to prove all the charges against Bishop Franco Mulakkal, Bishop of a diocese in Jalandhar in the Punjab, Northern India. His accuser was a nun in the Missionaries of Jesus, a congregation from Kerala, that is part of the Jalandhar diocese. The prosecution case was hampered by the sudden death in October 2018, of Father Kuriakose Kattuthara, a key witness, vociferous supporter of the nuns and a critic of Bishop Mulakkal.

Readers of this blog may remember how the nun finally went to the police after repeated complaints to the Church authorities, and a letter to the Pope, were met with indifference. Several other nuns from the mission also came forward with allegations of harassment, intimidation and sexual assault by priests.

As head of their diocese, Mulakkal wielded immense power over the mission, including budgets and job allocations. His response to the accusation was to claim that Sister Villoonnickal of trying to blackmail him into giving her a better job. Sister Villoonnickal is one of the nuns who supported the accuser. A prosecution was only brought after a prolonged campaign including public demonstrations, which themselves were met with persecutions, bullying and vilification of the victims and expulsions.

Sister Josephine Villoonnickal, left, sister Alphy Pallasseril, center, and Sister Anupama Kelamangalathu, at St. Francis Mission Home, in Kuravilangad.

Credit: AP Photo/Manish Swarup

Sister Lucy Kalappura, a member of the Franciscan Clarist Congregation and a teacher at Sacred Heart High school at Dwaraka, Kerala, who was at the forefront of protests against Mulakkal and one of the five nuns who took part in a sit-in near the Kerala High Court in Kochi, was removed from her teaching post and expelled from the Franciscan Clarist Congregation.

According to Sister Villoonnickal, the rapes took place in Room 20 of a small convent at the end of a one-lane road in rural Kerala. She alleges that every few months, Mulakkal would visit the St. Francis convent and summon the nun. Then, according to a letter she wrote to church officials, he raped her, a total of thirteen times; the first time on May 5, 2014; the last time on Sept. 23, 2016. The dates of these visits are corroborated by entries in the convent’s visitor logs.

Reports of the sexual abuse of Catholic nuns in Karela, one of the oldest Christian communities in India, are widespread. Legend has it that Christianity was brought to southern India by St Thomas the apostle, in 56 AD.

Rural Indian Christian culture is one of deference to male authority and especially to the authority of Catholic priests. Nuns are required to be celibate and any who admit to sexual experience, even non-consensual, risk alienation and even expulsion from their order, so there is enormous social pressure on them to comply with the demands of priests and then to keep silent about it. Some are so naive they may even think it is normal and even part of their duty to minister to a 'celibate' priest's needs. Some may even blame themselves for the assault.

Often these offences take place in private and the nuns are reluctant to report it immediately, so there is never any forensic or medical evidence of the offence and any trial comes down to one word against another.

The scandal surrounding the allegations, the obstruction by the Church and the arest of Mulakkal prompted the Pope to admit publicly that the abuse of nuns by priests was a problem the Church needed to confront, admitting for the first time that his predecessor, Pope Benedict, had been forced to shut down an entire order in which nuns were being kept as 'sex slaves' for priests. It also prompted Archbishop Kuriakose Bharanikulangara of Faridabad, a former Vatican diplomat, to issue an apology to the victims of sexually predatory priests.

However, Kerala Catholic Bishops’ Council defended Mulakkal and criticised the nuns who campaigned for justice, accusing them of helping "the Church’s enemies to attack it and its leaders and disdain the Sacraments, causing much pain to all those who love the Church." Three bishops showed their support by visiting Mulakkal in prison during the three weeks he spent in custody before being released on bail.

The prosecution has announced that they will be appealing against the acquittal, to the Indian High Court.