News

By Steve Jalsevac in Kerala

COCHIN, Kerala, India, June 15, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – In the southern Indian state of Kerala, Cardinal Varkey Vitheryathil is the leader of the state’s largest Christian denomination, the Syro Malabar Catholic Church. On May 30 LifeSiteNews interviewed the Cardinal in the official Archbishop’s House in the city of Cochin, the commercial capital of Kerala.

In the interview the Cardinal confirmed the vitality of Catholicism in Kerala but also noted how the “loose Catholic doctine coming from Western countries” has led Kerala Catholics to assume the non-Catholic belief that using contraception is “a decision left up to the couple”. He told LifeSiteNews that Kerala Catholics became aware of and were influenced by priests and bishops in the West opposing Pope Paul VI’s encylical Humanae Vitae.

Canada’s infamous Winnipeg Statement theology, for exampleÂhas beenÂone instance of such incorrect Catholic teaching, widely promoted throughout Canada, and which has been held up as an international model that influenced Catholics in other nations.

Working mothers, the influence of media and the desire for money to buy all the things modern life has to offer are other factorsÂthe Cardinal says have led to the huge drop in the Kerala Catholic birthrate.

The low birthrate of the Christians as well as the Hindus, said the Cardinal, will result in Kerala becoming an Islamic state in 20 years if present trends continue, since the Muslims have 7, 8 children and are told from an early age “you must have 8 children. More than 8 children, it’s a special blessing of Allah.”

** See the complete interview in todays’ Special Report**
  LifeSiteNews Interview With Cardinal Varkey in Cochin, India
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/jun/060615a.html
  (includes photos)

See related previous LifeSiteNews report
  Christians in India facing Major Decline Because of Low Birthrate
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/jun/060612a.html

Priest Says Kerala Catholics Use “Whatever Savage Method They Can” to Limit Children
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/jun/06061303.html