By Matters India Reporter
Kochi, Nov 13, 2019: The US-based National Geographic magazine has honored Kerala’s five “rebel” nuns by featuring them in its November issue.
The 131-year-old magazine has hailed the endurance of Missionaries of Jesus Sisters Alphy Pallasseril, Ancitta Urumbil, Anupama Kelamangalathuveli, Josephine Villoonnickal, and Neena Rose in their demand for justice for one of their companions, who was allegedly raped by Bishop Franco Mulakkal of Jalandhar.
The main article by Rania Abouzeid in the Washington-based magazine, ‘Around the World, women are taking charge of their future,’ has published a photograph of the five nuns, all cheerful, with the title “Defiant Sisters, India.
Others featured include an animal tracker in Kenya, a peace advocate in France and the country’s first Muslim woman mayor, an astrophysicist in the US, a home weaver, a sustainable farmer and accessibility champion in Jordan and a village head in India.
The five nuns now live in St Francis Mission Home, their convent in Kuravilangad, a village under Kottayam district of Kerala. They have stood up to the Church and spearheaded a two-week sit-in outside the Kerala High Court to ensure Bishop Mulakkal was brought to justice.
“Their superiors keep pressuring them to keep quiet and stop making trouble, but they refuse. When a nun in Kerala told church leaders multiple times that a bishop had raped her repeatedly, nothing happened, so she turned to the police,” the magazine noted.
The bishop, who maintains his innocence, eventually was arrested. Instead of supporting the nuns, the church cut off the protesting nuns’ monthly allowance.”
“We only stood with the truth and the world recognized us for doing so. We all are very happy and we hope that in the future also nuns enduring pain will break their silence and speak out the truth to the whole world,” said Sister Anupama, one among the five nuns who led the protest.
The National Geographic magazine has been published continuously since 1888. It primarily contains articles about science, geography, history, and world culture. The magazine is known for its thick square-bound glossy format with a yellow rectangular border and its extensive use of dramatic photographs.