NEW DELHI: Indian authorities charged a Roman Catholic bishop on Tuesday with repeatedly raping a nun in her rural convent, a case that helped make the sexual abuse of nuns a major issue in the church.
Bishop Franco Mulakkal was charged with rape, illegal confinement and intimidation, said Hari Sankar, a district police chief in the southern state of Kerala, India’s Catholic heartland.
The nun who made the accusations, who has not been publicly identified, said she went to police last year only after complaining repeatedly to church authorities. Eventually, a group of fellow nuns launched unprecedented public protests to demand Mulakkal’s arrest. He was arrested but released after a few weeks.
Mulakkal was the official patron of the nun’s community, the Missionaries of Jesus, and wielded immense influence over its budgets and job assignments. The nun said the rapes occurred between 2014 and 2016.
Mulakkal has denied the accusations, calling them “baseless and concocted” and saying the accusing nun was trying to pressure him to get a better job.
In February, Pope Francis for the first time publicly acknowledged the sexual abuse of nuns by priests and bishops.
Speaking to reporters aboard the papal plane, Francis vowed to confront the problem. “Should we do something more? Yes. Is there the will? Yes. But it’s a path that we have already begun,” he said.
The Mulakkal case has split India’s Catholic community, with many people defending the bishop.
In March, the founder of the Vatican’s women’s magazine, along with the magazine’s all-female editorial board, quit their positions, saying a Vatican campaign to discredit them had increased since they denounced the sexual abuse of nuns by priests and bishops.
Catholic bishop charged with repeatedly raping nun
Catholic bishop charged with repeatedly raping nun
- In February, Pope Francis for the first time publicly acknowledged the sexual abuse of nuns by priests and bishops
- The Mulakkal case has split India’s Catholic community, with many people defending the bishop
35 million Nigerians ‘risk hunger after global funding collapse’
- The UN can only aim to deliver $516 million to provide lifesaving aid to 2.5 million people this year, down from 3.6 million in 2025, which in turn was about half the previous year’s level
ABUJA: Nearly 35 million Nigerians are at risk of hunger this year, including 3 million children facing severe malnutrition, the UN said, following the collapse of global aid budgets.
Speaking at the launch of the 2026 humanitarian plan in Abuja, UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator Mohammed Malick Fall said the long-dominant, foreign-led aid model in Nigeria is no longer sustainable and that Nigeria’s needs have grown.
Conditions in the conflict-hit northeast are dire, Fall said, with civilians in Borno, Adamawa, and Yobe states facing rising violence.
BACKGROUND
UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator Mohammed Malick Fall said the foreign-led aid model in Nigeria is no longer sustainable and that the country’s needs have grown.
A surge in terror attacks killed more than 4,000 people in the first eight months of 2025, matching the toll for all of 2023, he said.
The UN can only aim to deliver $516 million to provide lifesaving aid to 2.5 million people this year, down from 3.6 million in 2025, which in turn was about half the previous year’s level.
“These are not statistics. These numbers represent lives, futures, and Nigerians,” Fall said.
He also said the UN had no choice but to focus on “the most lifesaving” interventions given the drop in available funding.
Shortfalls last year led the World Food Programme to also warn that millions could go hungry in Nigeria as its resources ran out in December and it was forced to cut support for more than 300,000 children.
Fall said Nigeria was showing growing national ownership of the crisis response in recent months through measures such as local funding for lean-season food support and early-warning action on flooding.
