![\"Mother](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/94868sp_385w_217h_558x_575y.jpg\")
\u00a0(Photo: Getty\/iStock)<\/p>\n \u00a0(Photo: Getty\/iStock)<\/p>\n
In a symbolic move, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio began his first official visit to India on May 22, 2026, with a personal visit to Mother Teresa\u2019s Home in Calcutta. He attended Mass there, spoke openly about his Catholic faith, and expressed tremendous respect for the Sisters of Charity and their service to the poorest of India.<\/p>\n
This is the same Missionaries of Charity that the extremist RSS ecosystem has repeatedly attacked over the years through their online platforms and media outlets, accusing Mother Teresa and her sisters of forced conversions and fraudulent activity. Predictably, additional attacks on Mother Teresa resurfaced on these platforms immediately after Rubio\u2019s visit.<\/p>\n
Indian minorities \u2013 including myself \u2013 were closely watching how Secretary Rubio would address the distressing situation facing Indian Christians, particularly the impact of stringent anti-conversion laws, repeated incidents of violence, and the controversial FCRA amendment bill.<\/p>\n
While the details of his private meetings with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other senior\u00a0officials remain confidential, Rubio was widely expected to raise these concerns. The attacks on\u00a0Christians and the proposed FCRA changes directly affect funds sent by ordinary American\u00a0Christians to support legitimate philanthropic work through churches and Christian institutions in\u00a0India.<\/p>\n
The symbolism of Rubio\u2019s visit to Mother Teresa\u2019s home was hard to overstate. Indians understand symbolism because our culture is steeped in it. The repeated denial of visas to\u00a0American Christian pastors and workers who want to visit India are often on the basis of accusations that they are\u00a0going for \u201cconversion events\u201d, and thus visas are denied. The paranoia that Hindu\u00a0extremists create around conversions has reached dangerous levels, resulting in hate\u00a0campaigns and physical violence, especially in North India.<\/p>\n
Coming in the wake of the earlier suspension (and later restoration) of the Missionaries of\u00a0Charity\u2019s FCRA licence, Rubio\u2019s visit was not merely about the future of one iconic home. It was\u00a0about every legitimate Christian philanthropic ministry in the country. If a law meant to regulate\u00a0foreign funds is amended to allow retrospective seizure of assets of churches and Christian\u00a0organizations, the message is loud and clear: FCRA is no longer about regulation; it has\u00a0become a tool for control and eventual possession of Christian institutions.<\/p>\n
In the end, Secretary Rubio\u2019s message was unmistakable. The Christian world is aware and watching what is happening to Christian citizens in India. The global Muslim community has\u00a0largely remained silent as Indian Muslims are increasingly treated like second-class citizens.<\/p>\n
But global Christians, spread across free democratic societies, will not be mute bystanders\u00a0when their fellow believers are threatened, attacked, and targeted through opaque mechanisms like\u00a0the FCRA department.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately this will impact the goodwill the Hindu community receives in Western nations. The storm troopers of extremist Hindus don’t realise this. Christians living in democratic countries will raise their voices and put pressure on their own governments and leaders, including figures like Secretary Rubio.<\/p>\n
It is in India\u2019s own interest that Prime Minister Modi addresses this. The blatant demonization and targeting of Christians harms not only the community but also millions of needy Indians\u00a0who benefit from Christian-run schools, hospitals, and social services. Especially at this time of major economic distress.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Prime Minister\u2019s symbolic gesture of attending a Christmas service in Delhi last year, even amid attacks by Hindu extremists in several states, was a step in the right direction. Now is\u00a0the time for him to take decisive action against this growing hate culture. This would draw a fine\u00a0line between the Prime Minister and those who want to drag him into anti-Christian activities and\u00a0religious violence.<\/p>\n
One clear and powerful sign would be for the Prime Minister to drop the proposed FCRA\u00a0amendment bill. This would be a significant and symbolic step and statement to the many\u00a0Christian majority nations who are watching developments.<\/p>\n
As a senior Christian leader from the Muslim world told me recently, this kind of stealth takeover\u00a0of Christian institutions through legislative changes has not happened even in many Muslim-majority countries where Christians face severe persecution.<\/p>\n
India must protect its great tradition of religious freedom and protect Christian citizens and\u00a0their institutions \u2014 not just for the sake of religious freedom, but for India\u2019s global standing and\u00a0its commitment to being a truly pluralistic democracy.<\/p>\n
Archbishop Joseph D’Souza is a renowned civil rights activist. He is archbishop of the Anglican Good Shepherd Church of India, the President of the All India Christian Council. He also serves as a convenor of the newly formed ecumenical National Federation of Churches of India.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u00a0(Photo: Getty\/iStock) In a symbolic move, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio began his first official visit to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":95232,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[121],"tags":[51110,51111,51109,4093,51112,186,14290,2170,43273,17380],"class_list":["post-95231","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-marco-rubio","tag-extremists","tag-hindu","tag-hindu-nationalism","tag-india","tag-joseph-dsouza","tag-marco-rubio","tag-modi","tag-persecution","tag-religious-freedom","tag-religious-liberty"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@people\/116674702536859842","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95231","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=95231"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95231\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/95232"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95231"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=95231"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=95231"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}