- Iglesia Católica en la India
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La Basílica de Santo Tomás en Chennai es un centro católico de adoración y peregrinaje. En la India existen más de 17 millones de fieles católico-romanos.
La Iglesia Católica en la India es una fracción cristiana en plena comunión con la Iglesia Católica Romana que universalmente responde a la autoridad del Papa en Roma.
En la India los fieles católicos ascienden aproximadamente a 17,3 millones,[1] que representan menos del 2% de la población total[2] y constituyen la Iglesia cristiana más grande en toda la India.[1]
Existen 157 unidades ecclesiásticas que conforman un total de 29 arquidiócesis y 128 diócesis. De estas unidades eclesiásticas, 127 son de Rito latino, 25 de Rito siro-malabar y otras 5 de Rito siro-malankara.
Todas la diócesis o eparquías pertenecen a la Conferenia de Obispos Católicos de la India, que fue fundada en 1994.[3] El Representante de la Santa Sede ante el gobierno de la India y ante las autoridades eclesiásticas es el Nuncio apostólico. La Misión diplomática fue establecida a la misma vez que la Delegación Apostólica para las Indias Orientales en el año 1881. Mas adelante fue erigida una inter-Nunciatura por el Papa Pío XII en 1948 y finalmente una Nunciatura apostólica, por el Papa Pablo VI en 1967.
Contenido
Historia
Cristianismo Primitivo en la India
La fe cristiana fue introducida en la India por el Apóstol Tomás hacia el 52 d.C.[4] Los fieles de la comunidad fundada por Santo Tomás fueron conocidos como cristianos nasranis (de Nasrani), o sea, creyentes en Jesús de Nazaret, según se sugiere por la etimología de la palabra.[5] La Comunidad fue gobernada por la Iglesia asiria del Oriente hasta la llegada de los portugueses.
Primeros misioneros
Juan de Monte Corvino, fraile franciscano, fue enviado como misionero a China, llegando a ser prelado de Pekín hacia 1307. Viajó desde Persia, llegando por mar a la India en 1291, a la región de Madrás o "País de Santo Tomás".
Allí predicó durante trece meses y bautizó alrededor de cien personas. Desde allí, el fraile, escribió a su casa, en diciembre de 1291 (ó 1292). Esta carta contiene uno de los más tempranos y sobresalientes testimonios sobre la Costa de Coromandel proporcionado por un europeo. Éste luego viajó por mar desde Mailapur (no se confunda con Maiapur), y llegó a China en 1294, presentándose en la capital "Janbalic" (hoy Beijín o Pekín).[6]
Posteriormente el Fraile Odorico de Pordenone llegó a la India en 1321. Visitó Malabar, adyacente a Pandarani (20 millas al norte de Calicut, también llamada Kozhikode, en Cranganore (o Kodungallur), y a Kollam, partiendo desde allí, según se cree, hacia Ceylon (Sri Lanka) y al sepulcro de santo Tomás en Mailapur, cerca de Madrás. Él escribe que ha encontrado el sitio donde Tomás fue enterrado.
El Padre Jordano Catalani, un misionero dominico francés lo sucedió de 1321-1322. Informó a Roma, al parecer desde algún lugar de la costa oeste de la India, que le había dado cristiana sepultura a cuatro monjes mártires. Jordano es conocido por sus 1329 "Mirabilia" que describen las marabillas del Oriente:
Father Jordanus Catalani, a French Dominican missionary, followed in 1321-22. He reported to Rome, apparently from somewhere on the west coast of India, that he had given Christian burial to four martyred monks. Jordanus is known for his 1329 “Mirabilia” describing the marvels of the East: he furnished the best account of Indian regions and the Christians, the products, climate, manners, customs, fauna and flori given by any European in the Middle Ages - superior even to Marco Polo’s.In 1347, Giovanni de Marignolli visited the shrine of St Thomas near the modern Madras, and then proceeded to what he calls the kingdom of Saba, and identifies with the Sheba of Scripture, but which seems from various particulars to have been Java. Taking ship again for Malabar on his way to Europe, he encountered great storms.
Another prominent Indian traveler was Joseph, priest over Cranganore. He journeyed to Babylon in 1490 and then sailed to Europe and visited Portugal, Rome, and Venice before returning to India. He helped to write a book about his travels titled The Travels of Joseph the Indian which was widely disseminated across Europe.
Llegada de los Portugueses
Introduction of Catholicism in India started with the arrival of Vasco da Gama,[1] who was seeking pre-existing Christian nations with which to form anti-Islamic alliances. The lucrative spice trade was further temptation for the Portuguese crown.[7]
With the papal bull Romanus Pontifex the patronage of the mission was granted to the Portuguese and they were remunerated with a trade monopoly.[8] After four decades of prosperous trading they started the proselytization around 1540. Missionaries of the newly founded Society of Jesus were sent to Goa and the Portuguese colonial government supported the mission with incentives for baptized Christians. They offered rice donations for the poor, good positions in the Portuguese colonies for the middle class and military support for local rulers and hence these Christians were dubbed Rice Christians who even practiced their old religion. At the same time many New Christians from Portugal migrated to India as a result of the inquisition in Portugal. Many of them were suspected of being Crypto-Jews, converted Jews who were secretly practicing their old religion. Both were considered a threat to the solidarity of Christian belief.[9] Saint Francis Xavier, in a 1545 letter to John III of Portugal, requested the inquisition be installed in Goa[9] which spelled the end of Portuguese domination in Christian India.[10]
Latinisation of St Thomas Christians started in the early 16th century.[11] The Synod of Diamper was convened by the Portuguese between 20 and 26 June 1599. The Saint Thomas Christians were pressured to acknowledge the authority of the Pope[11] and most eventually accepted the Catholic faith, but a part of them switched to West Syrian rite.
Conversiones posteriores
Other than the St Thomas Christians, people of other faiths were converted zealously by the Portuguese. This started with Goa, then spread to fishery coast of Cape Comorin, inland districts of Madurai and the western coast of Bassein, Salcette, Bombay, Karanja, and Chaul.[12] With the advent of suppression of Jesuits in 1773 the missionary expansion declined in India[13] along with the need for organisations within the Church in India.[12] Especially when the Vicar Apostolate of Bombay was erected in 1637[14] which was under the direct ruling from Rome, caused misunderstanding between the Portuguese missionary and the Apostolate.[12] The inquisition of Goa had caused strained relationship and mistrust with the Hindus of India[10] The strained relations between the Church and the Portuguese missionaries reached a climax when in 1838 the Holy See cancelled the jurisdiction of the three suffragan Sees of Crangaqnore, Cochin, and Mylapur and transferred it to the nearest vicars Apostolic, and did the same with regard to certain portions of territory which had formerly been under the authority of Goa itself.[12] Finally in 1886 another concordat was established, and at the same time the whole country was divided into ecclesiastical provinces, and certain portions of territory, withdrawn in 1838, were restored to the jurisdiction of the Portuguese sees.[12]
Obra social
Madre Teresa de CalcutaConcern with charity was common to Catholics and Protestants, but with one major difference: whilst the former believe that salvation comes from faith in God which manifests itself in good works such as charity, the latter could not rely on such a possibility, since they believe that only one's faith is a requisite of salvation, and that one's works are insufficient to gain or lose salvation.[15] Consequently, Catholic charitable efforts in India have been extensive.
In Portuguese India, for instance, Saint Francis Xavier and his fellow missionaries were especially careful to help the local charitable institutions by tending to the sick, both spiritually and physically, and performing other works of mercy.[15] The Jesuits' educational institutions, although never succeeding in missionary activities, had left a prestigious impact through their education institutions.[16] Education has become the major priority for the Church in India in recent years with nearly 60% of the Catholic schools situated in rural areas.[17] Even in the early part of the 19th century, Catholic schools had left its emphasis on poor relief and welfare.[18]
Though Catholics make up less than 2 percent of India's population, the Church provides an estimated 22 percent of all health-care services, operating 5,000 facilities, and employs 33 percent of Indian health-care workers, including 40,000 Catholic nurses.[2]
Provincias
The provinces covered by the Church include 31 provinciates, which are broken down into 23 Roman Catholic, 6 Syro-Malabar and 2 Syro-Malabar provinces.
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RubensCatholicus (HIC ET NUNC) 19:01 28 dic 2010 (UTC)
Estadísticas
- Estadísticas para el año 2003
- Total de Sacerdotes Diocesanos: 14.000
- Sacerdotes Religiosos: 13.500
- Hermanos legos (religiosos no ordenados): 4.300
- Religiosas: 90.000
- Total de Congregaciones Religiosas: 300 (masculinas: 70, femeninas: 230)
- Institutos Educacionales
- Círculos infantiles/Jardines de infantes: 3.785
- Escuelas Primarias: 7.319
- Escuelas Secundarias: 3.765
- Colegios: 240
- Escuelas/Colegios de Medicina/Enfermería: 28
- Colegios de Ingeniería: 15
- Asistencia Social
- Escuelas de Entrenamiento Técnico/Politécnicos: 1.524
- Hostales/Casas de alojamiento: 1.765
- Orfanatos: 1.085
- Guarderías: 228
- Hospitales: 704
- Dispensarios/Centros de Salud: 1.792
- Leproserías: 111
- Centros de Rehabilitación o Fisioterapia: 102
- Casas para ancianos, necesitados y discapacitados físicos: 455
Referencias
- ↑ a b c Factfile: Roman Catholics around the world on BBC news.
- ↑ a b Megan Galbraith Catholic Church of India Responds with Leadership Field note on Glocal Health Council website.
- ↑ Catholic Bishops Conference of India on CBCI website.
- ↑ Stephen Andrew Missick.Mar Thoma: The Apostolic Foundation of the Assyrian Church and the Christians of St. Thomas in India. Journal of Assyrian Academic studies.
- ↑ ¿Fueron estos Cristianos contaminados por el Nestorianismo antes de 1599? En La Eciclopedia Católica, para: "St.Thomas Christians".
- ↑ Odoric of Pordenone (Nendeen, Liechenstein, 1967), Henry Yule, trans. Cathy and the Way Thither vol. II,P-142.
- ↑ Vasco da Gama collection on University of Michigan
- ↑ Daus, Ronald (1983). Die Erfindung des Kolonialismus. Wuppertal/Germany: Peter Hammer Verlag. p. 33. ISBN 3-87294-202-6.(en alemán)
- ↑ a b Daus, Ronald (1983). Die Erfindung des Kolonialismus. Wuppertal/Germany: Peter Hammer Verlag. pp. 61–66. ISBN 3-87294-202-6.(en alemán)
- ↑ a b Paul Axelrod, Michelle A. Fuerch Flight of the Deities: Hindu Resistance in Portuguese Goa Modern Asian Studies, Vol. 30, No. 2 (May, 1996), pp. 387-421
- ↑ a b Synod of Diamper on Synod of Diamper Church website.
- ↑ a b c d e India on Catholic Encyclopedia.
- ↑ The Catholic Frontier in India; 16-17th century from The Free library.
- ↑ Archdiocese of Bombay on Catholic Herarchy website.
- ↑ a b Isabel dos Guimarães Sá Catholic Charity in Perspective: The Social Life of Devotion in Portugal and its Empire (1450-1700) Journal of Portuguese History. Vol.2, number 1, Summer 2004.
- ↑ Catholic education in India The New York Times, June 6, 1887.
- ↑ Card. Toppo: “Education is the Churches priority mission and key to Indian development” Asia News.
- ↑ J. Hutching THE CATHOLIC POOR SCHOOLS, 1800 to 1845: Part 1 The Catholic Poor-relief, welfare and schools Journal of Educational Administration and History, Volume 1, Issue 2 June 1969, pages 1 - 8.
Enlaces externos
Wikimedia Commons alberga contenido multimedia sobre Iglesia Católica en la IndiaCommons.- Giga-Catholic Information
- Catholic Encyclopedia article on India
- Conferencia de Obispos Católicos de la India
- Iglesia Siro-Malankara
- Sitio Web de la Iglesia Católica Siro-Malankara
- Our Lady of Snow Kallikulam, Tamil Nadu, India
- Our Lady of Snows Church, Thoothukudi, Tamil Nadu, India
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Wikimedia foundation. 2010.
