Matters India Reporter

Mumbai: A Catholic laity group in India has demanded the paternity test of a bishop to be conducted in two non-Catholic hospitals in Mumbai.

The Association of Concerned Catholics (AOCC) “strongly” objected to a proposal to conduct the DNA test of Bishop K A William at St John’s Hospital in Bengaluru.

In a letter to Archbishop Leopoldo Girelli, the recently appointed Apostolic Nuncio to India and Nepal, on May 15 the laity group says it has information that the Bishop William’s DNA test is scheduled to be conducted at St John’s Hospital, managed by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India, at Bengaluru, capital of the southern Indian state of Karnataka.

Mysuru (formerly Mysore), a major city in Karnataka, is some 150 km southwest of Bengaluru.

The Mysore bishop has supporters who were “influential clergymen” alleges the laity group’s letter.

The Vatican has deputed a three-member bishop team to probe the allegations against Bishop William, who is accused of kidnapping, misappropriation of church funds, as well as fathering two children. The team has already visited Mysore.

Bishop William, 56, has denied the allegations which he said were the handiwork of a group of priests who oppose his administrative reforms in the diocese. According to him, the “heinous charges” against him were baseless and an attempt to tarnish his image.

Groups such as AOCC have alleged that William, who became Mysore bishop in 2017, had used his clout to coerce and threaten victims and witnesses.

“Just a few months after him taking charge, 37 of his priests wrote to the Vatican asking for his resignation, on the grounds that he had fathered children and was also keeping mistresses. However, Williams refuted the allegations and told the media that he was being targeted by some priests for his efforts to reform the Church,” says the letter to the nuncio.

It says the Vatican initiated the probe against the bishop and formed the committee in February almost two years after his own priests and others leveled allegations against him.

The letter, signed by Melwyn Fernandes, the laity group’s general secretary, says it “strongly objects” to conducting Bishop William’s DNA test in any Catholic hospitals in India.

“We know from earlier experiences that influential clergymen who are in support of Bishop William, can manipulate the reports of the tests conducted in Catholic Hospitals,” Fernandes says.

The group wants the test done in two non-Catholic hospitals so that the whole process could be monitored by Cardinal Oswald Gracias, Archbishop of Bombay and the head of the Catholic Church in India, and the AOCC team.

Joseph Sodder, a lawyer and an AOCC official, says Bishop William has tremendous money power to influence bishop’s, hospitals, and the police in Karnataka.

Sodder said his sources in the Vatican have informed him that “some members of the hierarchy are conspiring to help William and conduct the paternity test at St John’s Medical College.”

In that case, the results will be tampered with by the clergy to help William and save the face of the Catholic Church, Sodder alleged.