Thrissur: Franco's photo crops up in diocese calendar

Thrissur:The photograph of rape accused bishop Franco Mulakkal surfaced in the Thrissur Archdiocese calendar for 2019.

The bishop had spent 25 days in jail after being arrested in October and is now in Jalandhar on a conditional bail.

The ‘Catholica Sabha’ calendar of the archdiocese is meant to be distributed to Catholic homes through the parishes.

The publication was in news earlier for expressing views on liquor and educational policies of the state government and choosing candidates for the Lok Sabha segments, apparently against the will of the diocese.

“It is a normal practice to print photographs of bishops from Thrissur  Archdiocese and Bishop Franco’s picture is printed in a column citing his birthday. Though he is now in Jalandhar, as he is a native of Mattom, his photograph was included for March on the second page of calendar earlier too. But, in view of the rape charges, it was unfair of the publication to use his photograph as it could send a wrong message to the laity,” said Anto Kokkat, vice-president of Joint Christian Council.

However, the clergy associated with the publication said there is no need to leave out the photograph as he was an accused and not a convict.