Country: India

Population (% Catholic): 1.326 billion (2020 estimate); 1.55% Catholic

Threats: Violence between Christians, including Catholics, and other groups flared up earlier this year in Manipur, an area in easternmost India, between Bangladesh and Myanmar. A ruling by the High Court of India granted “Scheduled Tribe” status to the majority Meithei Hindu community. Scheduled Tribes are indigenous tribal groups that are given reservation status under India’s constitution, Our Sunday Visitor (OSV News) reported.

“Hidden agendas and ideologies contrary to the constitutional and democratic values often infiltrate into the region and the state which jeopardizes the peaceful coexistence and religious harmony of the state and the region,” Indian Archbishop Dominic Lumon of Imphal, the state’s capital city. told OSV News on May 24. “Outside forces with the hidden agendas to disturb communal harmony and vested interests have to be recognized and resisted,” he said.

The violence has worsened recently, causing homelessness and displacement among victims, leading one local bishop to call for prayer to help resolve the crisis.

The situation “is worsening day by day in Manipur … it’s literally burning,” Bishop Chacko Thottumarickal of Indore told OSV News on June 21.

“Yes we are all praying … praying earnestly. But now only God can do something there,” the bishop said.

Since early May, Manipur has been plagued by fighting between the ethnic Kuki and Meitei communities, triggered by a decision to allow special status granting additional rights for the Meitei, sometimes also referred to as Meithei or Meities.

In a June 15 statement circulated by Bishop Thottumarickal, Archbishop Lumon said more than 50,000 people had been displaced and were homeless because of the violence.

“There is a complete collapse of the constitutional machinery in the state,” Archbishop Lumon said. “There is fear, uncertainty, and a general sense of hopelessness and desperation.”

— OSV News contributed to this article.