Kerala nuns protesting against rape-accused bishop not to be transferred, church assures

This come days after five of the six nuns had been asked by the church to vacate their premises and serve in far-flung communities across the country.

Apostolic administrator of Jalandhar diocese Bishop Angelo sent an email to the five nuns to this effect on Saturday, one of the nuns said. The purported email has been made available to the media.

"There will be no move from the diocese of Jalandhar to oust" them from the Kuravilangad convent, 22km from Kottayam, as long as they were needed for the court case, the nun said the bishop had assured in it.

Six Roman Catholic nuns at the St Francis Mission Home in Kuravilangad, 22 km from Kottayam, were earlier facing excommunication after one of them had spoken out against alleged rape by a former Bishop of Jalandhar from 2014 to 2016..

The fault of the others was that they had stood behind the nun who had stood up against Franco Mulakkal, and by extension, the church.

Mulakkal had spent three weeks in jail last year before securing bail.

"Ever since the issue to came to our attention, we have petitioned church elders...Now the church is torturing us and trying to pick us apart one by one," Sister Anupama had earlier told The Times of India.

The BGO Save Our Sisters has also written to Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan seeking protecting for the six nuns.