Why Franco Mulakkal should be a saint

Franco Mulakkal is the bishop of the Jalandhar diocese of the Catholic Church. He has been accused of raping quite many nuns. Many nuns chose to leave their religious calling because they didn’t want to live the duplicitous life that their ‘good shepherd’ wanted them to live. It is too obvious that this bishop is nothing less than a rapist. But it is necessary to protect him and eventually declare him a saint.

Why?

I have been following the comments on many Whatsapp groups which I belong to by the necessity of wanting to belong somewhere. Yeah, we all want to belong. Imagine the millions of believers whose sense of belonging is threatened by the sins of a villain like Franco Mulakkal.

It’s terrible, if you can understand that threat. I am not a believer and hence not shaken in any way. But I’m concerned about the people who mean a lot to me and whose lives are shaken by Mulakkal’s sins.

It’s not possible, they tell me. The Fathers are holy. These simple, humble, loyal believers refuse to accept the naked truth that the priests and other religious leaders are as fallible as they are. They want role models. They want saints. They want meaning in life.

The Church is the meaning of life for a lot of believers. Our Father in Heaven and the Holy Mary by his side are the succour and sustenance for the faithful. Their priests are the mediators here on this miserable earth. Life is unbearable without the Father up there and the Reverend Father down here.

What the Church should do immediately is to get the best lawyers who will get Mulakkal acquitted of all his crimes. Sooner than later, the Church should start the process of Mulakkal’s canonisation. He should be another Sahanadasan, like that Reverend Father Benedict who killed a woman whom he was using for sexual gratification for years. No religion should have villains. Religions should only have saints. The faithful require that for keeping their lives going.

Just imagine the entire edifice of your life collapsing because you suddenly discover that all that you’ve been believing so far was utterly wrong. I was faced with that situation once. So I know what that means. I don’t want more people to face a similar situation. Let good things happen to people. That’s my wish. Hence the Catholic Church should start the canonisation process of Saint Mulakkal immediately.

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