Patriarchal Cross

Nuns are the pillars on which the Indian Catholic Church was built, but their extraordinary service has often been undervalued.

- Cithara Paul

When he became pontiff in 2013, Pope Francis chose not to move to the Apostolic Palace, the official papal residence; he remained in a humble guest house where he had been staying. He has his meals at the guest house, which is run by paid cooks and waiters. This was a departure from what his predecessors did for centuries—they all lived in the Apostolic Palace run by nuns. Pope John Paul II apparently had five Polish nuns who ran his household, while Pope Benedict XVI was looked after by eight female members of a Catholic lay organisation known as Memores Domini.

Francis's choice may look like an act of simplicity, quite in tune with his character. But for those who understand the power dynamics of the Catholic Church, it was nothing short of a rebellion. It was his way of protesting the use of nuns as cheap labour. He was questioning the lopsided power structure in the church, in which 'women religious' are treated as second-rate citizens.

Francis would have wanted his act to find resonance all over the world, as it was a call to usher in a semblance of equality in the deeply patriarchal structure of the Catholic Church. But not so much as he wanted, it seems. At least in India.

The Catholic Church in India and its nuns have been in news of late, mostly for wrong reasons. The church was seen running for cover when a nun accused Franco Mulackal, bishop of Jalandhar diocese, of raping her. It shook the very foundation on which the religious lives of priests and nuns have been built—celibacy. The case also brought out many issues, such as corruption and abuse of power, that were earlier discussed in hushed tones. “The case reflects everything that is wrong within the Catholic Church in India,” said Father Suresh Mathew, editor of the magazine Indian Currents. “It tells you how lopsided is its gender dynamics against the nuns who are the face of the church to the outside world.”