COCHIN, India - Church officials dismissed rumours of social media messages that said an Indian Salesian priest kidnapped by suspected Islamic terrorists in Yemen March 4 is being tortured and will be crucified on Good Friday.

CALCUTTA, India - With folded hands, Margeret Rose stood praying near Blessed Teresa's statue near the entrance of the headquarters of the Missionaries of Charity.

BANGALORE, India - Catholic bishops in India made some self-critical observations and also discussed moral decline and growing religious fundamentalism during their biennial assembly.

NEW DELHI - The Catholic Church in India supported some 150 million workers on a nationwide strike that shut down factories, banks, traffic and government offices across India Sept. 2.

Fr. Rajumr Chebattina got his 15 minutes of fame in early July when he was featured with Fr. Paul Batchilder on CBC’s new summer series, Still Standing.

Generations ago we lived by the words “waste not, want not.” Our grandparents were frugal people. Not us. We are throw-away people.

NEW DELHI - Each day, children on their way to Mount Carmel School pass through gates under the watch of armed security guards, and now city police officers who stop there on government orders after a nearby Catholic convent and school were broken into.

TORONTO - Volunteering with the Loretto Sisters community in India is not an experience that students easily forget. For many participants in the program, the trip has a life-changing impact.

BHUBANESWAR, India - Students at a Hindu-run school for the blind joined a nationwide outcry over the gang rape of a 74-year-old Catholic nun.

NEW DELHI - A Jesuit priest kidnapped in Afghanistan and held for eight months told reporters "God has saved me," but he said he did not want to discuss details of his captivity.

BANGALORE, India - Church leaders criticized police manhandling of Christians who gathered Feb. 5 at the gate of Sacred Heart Cathedral in New Delhi to protest recent attacks on churches.

TORONTO - In 1985, the Vincentian Congregation opened its first retreat centre in Potta, India. The Divine Retreat Centre was so successful the Vincentians expanded the retreat ministry across Asia, Europe, Africa, Australia, the United States and now, finally, into Canada.

The planet produces enough food to feed everyone, yet more than 800 million people go hungry every day.

CHENNAI, India - The Catholic Bishops' Conference of India has appealed to Catholics to mobilize funds and materials to augment church relief work in northern Jammu and Kashmir state, devastated by floods.