The Left Democratic Front, an alliance of communist parties in Kerala, has come out for the candidates because of a common position on a land issue.

Christian groups, led by a number of Catholic bishops, have been campaigning against government plans to increase environmental protection in the Western Ghats region which runs through Kerala.

Christian leaders say the plans would displace millions of poor farmers - the majority of them Catholics.

A senior communist leader told ucanews that they had discussions with Catholic Church representatives.

"We have indicated that we would field a candidate of their choice," he said.

Kerala's Catholic bishops called on believers in the state to vote only for those who can ensure the protection of ordinary farmers living in fear along the Western Ghats.

In a pastoral letter, the bishops wrote that for Catholics, environmental protection is a way of life.

"But at the same time we should also be able to correct attempts to protect flora and fauna at the expense of humans," the letter states.

An Indian political analyst said this support of Christian candidates by communists is unprecedented in India.

Sources

• UCA News
• Deccan Chronicle
• Image: Outlook India

After more than 20 years of discussions, the country's Chamber of Deputies has passed a bill returning the former property to 17 churches, of which the Catholic Church is the largest.

Under the bill, which is yet to be debated by the Senate, the state will gradually cease financing the churches over a period of 17 years.

The churches are to get back land and real estate worth $NZ4.5 billion and be given $NZ3.5 billion in financial compensation for unreturned property.

The largest amount of compensation, $NZ2.8 billion, will go to the Catholic Church.

Applications for property return must be filed by original owners. Because of population shifts, parishes that are now small may gain large properties and parishes that have grown large may gain nothing.

A spokeswoman for the Czech Catholic Bishops' Conference, Veronika Vyvodova, said the Church is yet to discuss how to handle the restored property.

"We are at the very beginning. It is clear that negotiations inside dioceses must be held in order to prevent discrepancies and to secure a certain level of solidarity," she said.

The Church may let or sell the property it receives, or use it for business purposes, the newspaper Lidove Noviny reported.

This has been done by some religious orders that have had property returned in the past. For example, a former monastery in Brno, returned to the Bohemian-Moravian branch of the Roman Union of the Order of St Ursula, hosts a shopping centre and earns money for the Order.

On the other hand, the north Bohemian Trmice parish's effort to run a logging business ended in its bankruptcy and a loss of property.

Source:

Prague Monitor

Image: Prague Post