As the Catholic Church in India gets ready for nationwide prayers on Sunday, June 28, to express its worries about new legislation impacting Church activities, the central government has introduced stricter rules regarding foreign donations.
Father Mathew Koyickal, deputy secretary general of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI), voiced concerns on June 26, calling the new regulations “totally unnecessary.” He spoke during a news conference held on June 24 at the CBCI Centre in New Delhi, where the Church’s worries were discussed after the government announced the new enforcement policies for the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA).
These recent rules, issued on June 22, require organizations and charities receiving foreign funding to categorize their activities by type and geographical location. They must also disclose their social media links, websites, and publications while paying separate fees for each category they operate in. Political content is prohibited, and serious penalties are imposed for any violations.
Koyickal described these regulations as “alarming,” mentioning that there is already an amendment bill in the works that the Church has expressed concerns about. When asked if the government’s actions were a response to the Church’s upcoming prayer and protest call, he refrained from commenting.
Cardinal Anthony Poola, president of the CBCI and Archbishop of Hyderabad, discussed the potential negative effects of the proposed FCRA amendment on the Church’s charitable, educational, and healthcare services during an appeal made on June 17. He highlighted the Church’s essential mission to help the poor and vulnerable and called on followers to pray for the nation and the Church’s freedom to serve.
Koyickal emphasized the hope that the government would create laws to support NGOs working towards the country’s development. Although the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) initially planned to push the harsher FCRA amendments through Parliament on April 1, significant opposition both in Parliament and from community leaders led to a delay until the upcoming monsoon session in July.
The new rules have also drawn criticism from outside the Church. KC Venugopal, the general secretary of the opposition Congress party, wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on June 25, urging the withdrawal of the rules, suggesting they are meant to “strangle” the nation’s NGOs rather than regulate them.
Since the BJP took power in 2014, there have been nine changes to the FCRA regulations. The government’s FCRA Online dashboard indicates that fewer than 15,000 out of approximately 52,000 FCRA accounts are currently active. The cancellation or non-renewal of 37,000 licenses includes those of Church charities, Christian groups, and other secular advocacy organizations, notably international entities like Amnesty International and Greenpeace.
John Dayal, a Catholic journalist who was among the first to highlight the new FCRA rules, stated, “These norms amount to emasculating the work of the Church.” He remarked that such restrictions essentially silence the Church’s ability to speak out on matters of truth and justice.
Dayal further noted that Church charities that rely on foreign donations will find themselves “forced to pray behind closed walls” and may be unable to vocalize concerns about societal issues while running schools and hospitals.
