Church condemns malicious news report

SHILLONG: The Catholic Association of Khasi and Jaintia Hills which met at the Archbishop’s House here on Monday has condemned a news report on Pope Francis published in a leading vernacular daily.
A pleader’s notice was also served on Monday to the daily for ‘unfounded and not credited’ news report it had published on February 7 against the head of the Catholic Church.
According to the Association, the report had also offended the Catholic faithful of Meghalaya as it shows the world’s Catholic Church leader in poor light.
The meeting of the Catholic body chaired by its president, JA Lyngdoh, took cognizance of the report and took the decision to serve the newspaper a pleader’s notice and  also decided to report the matter to the Press Council of India (PCI).
“What has offended the Catholic faithful the most was the unsubstantiated nature of the report which besides failing to attribute the source of the news, had made up the story with the sole intent to stir communal hatred and disharmony,” the Catholic Association said.