So, Bishop Franco Mulakkal has temporarily stepped aside, not stepped down. A deputy will officiate in his absence, which is standard operating practice. Every time a bishop goes on leave somebody else in the hierarchy takes over. Franco has to travel to Kerala and be there on September 19 where a range of charges under the Indian Penal Code await to dispel any notion in his head that he’s being tried under friendly Canonical law.

No Sir, no! Only Jesus gets that kind of martyrdom. Don’t forget Christianity is the only religion in which death takes centre-stage. Much must have been made of Christ born – the north-star and the Virgin Mother – but it’s the crucifixion of Jesus which graces every Christian occasion, church and wall. Jesus alive riled overbearing Romans; Jesus dead won over congregations.

So, has Bishop on-temporary-hold Franco Mulakkal been thrown to the wolves? Odd question that, because the wolf here is allegedly Franco, the wolf in sheep’s clothing. The charges against him range from rape to criminal intimidation. Franco has a powerful coterie around him to help guard him. The Kerala police will tiptoe. Like it has for the last 90+ days. Franco is also solid on liquidity for the asking, with real estate plenty to spare.

Nun whatever-her-name-is by now a known face thanks to her colleagues in the Missionaries of Jesus, who look like they picked up dirty tricks from no less than the Romans who crucified Jesus, their descendants now entrenched in the Vatican. Kerala is the most powerful branch of the Vatican in India, the voice of the Holy See. The handful of nuns standing firm with ‘Nun Raped’ have picked up a fight they are destined to lose in the long run even if Bishop Franco is sentenced to life behind bars. The Vatican will see to that.

The case is that the 54-year-old Bishop serial-raped a 44-year-old nun. The nun’s convent is in Kottayam, which has 45 per cent Christian population. There is public and private outrage that the matter went public. The Kerala Catholic Bishops’ Council says there are in-house forums to settle such grievances. Nuns have been barred from lending a shoulder to the nun raped. Simultaneously, Mulakkal has been given the cover of a “conspiracy.”

New and old revelations about the nun’s character, her motives are part of this shroud of conspiracy. That she was acting like a nymphomaniac. That, but for the good Bishop, the nun would have slipped into a life of debauchery. The police looked like they believed the Bishop. They wrote an affidavit saying it was a fit case to charge him with rape but wouldn’t move to pick him up like a common rapist would have been picked up and charged.

The ‘Nun’s Letter to the Pope’ worked where the police did not. The letter addressed to the Indian envoy of the Holy See appealed for justice. It brought the Vatican over-ground. The nun has degrees of support in Kerala and the spoke in the wheel, MLA PC George, spoiled it further for Bishop Franco by cracking a joke on the “13th rape” which more or less confirmed that the Bishop had raped and people like him believed Franco had raped!

That being said the nun will have a hard time proving the charges in court. The delay in reporting the crime not once but 13 times will be questioned. What kept her silent for so long? And just when Bishop Franco is winning a congregation in Jalandhar come these sleazy allegations – it’s a conspiracy. Second, there is no medical evidence to back up the charges. Of course, the allegations of “bribes” might have some substance but will that do?

Bishop Franco Mulakkal is returning to his bailiwick, his stronghold, where he has powerful allies, where patriarchy rules with an iron fist, where the Vatican’s shadow is omnipresent with Jesus to impose the Vatican’s will. Civil society is backing the rape-survivor but platitudes will not help, only hard evidence. From all indications, Bishop Franco Mulakkal will return to Jalandhar a triumphant knight. The Vatican will Holy See to it. (IPA Service)