Bishop Savio Fernandes reflects on Prime Minister Modi’s Christmas gestures and silence over rising attacks on India’s Christian communities.
Newsroom (02/01/2026 Gaudium Press ) In recent years, the image of Prime Minister Narendra Modi lighting a candle inside a church at Christmas has become an annual ritual of political theater. Cameras follow him through hushed sanctuaries, his gestures of reverence interpreted as signals of national inclusivity. Yet, away from the glow of festive lights, another image persists: churches vandalized, pastors threatened, prayer gatherings disrupted by mobs who claim allegiance to the very ideology that sustains Modi’s political base.
In a searing reflection published by AsiaNews, Auxiliary Bishop Savio Fernandes of Mumbai confronts this dissonance. His essay captures the growing unease among India’s Christians as the Prime Minister’s symbolic visits coincide with escalating violence against their places of worship. “Calling violence an act of violence is not an act of enmity,” he writes. “It is a gesture of hope.”
Faith and Fear in the Public Square
For nearly a decade, Modi has made high-profile overtures to Christian communities—speaking warmly of their contribution to education, healthcare, and charity. These gestures, broadcast nationwide, have built an image of a leader who embraces pluralism. Yet these moments of outreach increasingly ring hollow amid the steady drumbeat of assault and harassment faced by Christians across India.
Reports document a sharp rise in attacks on churches, vandalized altars, and even verbal abuse aimed at clergy and worshippers. According to civil-society groups, incidents of intimidation now form a chilling pattern rather than isolated outbursts. Most striking is the apparent impunity of perpetrators—often operating in the presence of passive police officers.
Bishop Fernandes challenges the Prime Minister not only as a political leader but as the moral custodian of the Republic’s values. His question cuts to the core of India’s current crisis: Has the head of government become captive to the intolerance of his own ideological ecosystem?
The Silence That Speaks
The absence of official condemnation, Bishop Fernandes argues, has transformed silence into complicity. Even as disturbing cases of desecration and sexual harassment emerge, the government’s response has largely been muted. The Bishop recounts an incident where a man insulted the Virgin Mary and humiliated a woman with obscene remarks—a moment that, he insists, demands moral rather than political clarity.
To name violence honestly, he says, is not to oppose the government but to defend the Constitution. It is an appeal to India’s foundational promise of religious freedom. When those guarantees erode, so too does the nation’s moral authority.
Laws as Instruments of Fear
The Bishop’s reflection resonates against a broader pattern of institutional intimidation. In 2025, two Catholic nuns—Sisters Vandana Francis and Preeti Mary—were arrested in Chhattisgarh, accused of “human trafficking and forced religious conversion” alongside an Indigenous youth. Though later granted bail, their ordeal underscored how easily India’s legal machinery can be turned against Christian social workers.
A Deepika editorial that same year offered one of the starkest warnings yet, accusing state governments of fostering “growing Hindu fundamentalism” and reminding readers that persecution can arrive dressed in bureaucracy as much as in mob frenzy.
The United Christian Forum has tracked rising persecution since 2014, coinciding with Modi’s tenure. As Bishop Fernandes observes, modern hostility toward minorities no longer unfolds only through violence—it has evolved into a complex matrix of intimidation, legal manipulation, and public silence.
Hope as Resistance
Despite fear and fatigue, Bishop Fernandes locates strength in prayer and community. He calls on Christians not to retaliate but to persist in faith, service, and witness. His appeal extends even to Modi himself: to find the courage to confront injustice within his own political ranks and to restore public trust by defending the rights of all citizens.
“India deserves leadership that does not merely perform inclusivity before cameras,” he concludes, “but enforces it on the ground.” For him, truth-telling in the face of violence is not an act of defiance—it is an act of hope, a small but vital declaration that light still shines even when the sanctuary’s stained glass is shattered.
Attended the Christmas morning service at The Cathedral Church of the Redemption in Delhi. The service reflected the timeless message of love, peace and compassion. May the spirit of Christmas inspire harmony and goodwill in our society. pic.twitter.com/humdgbxR9o
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) December 25, 2025
- Raju Hasmukh with files from Asianews.it
Related Images:
