Goa Priest

The Basilica of Bom Jesus in Old Goa, a major tourist attraction, would be closed for visitors and parishioners for a month from November 5 as the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) will take up its restoration work, a church priest has said.

Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant has said the pastor, arrested recently in the state for allegedly luring people to convert to Christianity, had several cases registered against him, including that of a person's death.

The Goa government today withdrew its standard operating procedure (SOP) for Ganesh Utsav celebrations in the state, which included a ban on priests visiting homes for rituals, within hours of it being issued

Goa Archbishop Filipe Neri Ferrao today said churches will be allowed to reopen with strict conditions like ensuring the sitting arrangement with a physical distance of six feet to be adhered to by priests and parishioners.

The Catholic priest who had allegedly made statements against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP president Amit Shah and late Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar on Tuesday tendered an "unconditional apology" after he was found guilty of violating the poll code.

Ten priests from various mosques in Goa conducted Quran Khawani, a ritualistic reading of the Quran, for quick recovery of ailing Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, an official said on Thursday.

A former temple priest accused of molesting two women surrendered before a court in Goa today and was arrested by the police, an official said.

Goa Police has registered a case of outraging the modesty of a woman against a Mangueshi temple priest, earlier accused by a US medical student of a similar offence, following a complaint by another woman based in Mumbai.

Goa's Mangueshi temple priest who was booked for molesting two women, has claimed that one of them fabricated the charges against him after he refused to allow the unmarried woman into the sanctum sanctorum.

Goa Police has started a probe into allegations of molestation raised against a priest attached to the popular Mangueshi temple in south Goa, after a victim filed an FIR, an officer said on Friday.

Goa Minister Govind Gaude and another BJP lawmaker on Thursday welcomed a formal probe into two complaints of alleged molestation filed with the Shree Mangueshi temple committee, accusing a priest of inappropriate behaviour.

The management of Shree Mangueshi temple said it could not come across "dependable evidence" after a Goan-origin medical student in the US complained of inappropriate behaviour by a priest in June.

Sixteen months after former Catholic priest and activist Bismarque Dias was found dead under mysterious circumstances, the state Human Rights Commission on Monday directed that his remains be formally laid to rest.

The Goa Human Rights Commission will tomorrow hear a petition filed by social activist Aires Rodrigues over alleged atrocities against demonstrators demanding proper investigations into the death of priest, Father Bismarque Dias.

A Goa legislator wants the chief minister to complain to the censor board over the depiction of the state and Christian priests in Kya Super Kool...

The Basilica of Bom Jesus in Old Goa, a major tourist attraction, would be closed for visitors and parishioners for a month from November 5 as the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) will take up its restoration work, a church priest has said.

Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant has said the pastor, arrested recently in the state for allegedly luring people to convert to Christianity, had several cases registered against him, including that of a person's death.

The Goa government today withdrew its standard operating procedure (SOP) for Ganesh Utsav celebrations in the state, which included a ban on priests visiting homes for rituals, within hours of it being issued

Goa Archbishop Filipe Neri Ferrao today said churches will be allowed to reopen with strict conditions like ensuring the sitting arrangement with a physical distance of six feet to be adhered to by priests and parishioners.

The Catholic priest who had allegedly made statements against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP president Amit Shah and late Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar on Tuesday tendered an "unconditional apology" after he was found guilty of violating the poll code.

Ten priests from various mosques in Goa conducted Quran Khawani, a ritualistic reading of the Quran, for quick recovery of ailing Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, an official said on Thursday.

A former temple priest accused of molesting two women surrendered before a court in Goa today and was arrested by the police, an official said.

Goa Police has registered a case of outraging the modesty of a woman against a Mangueshi temple priest, earlier accused by a US medical student of a similar offence, following a complaint by another woman based in Mumbai.

Goa's Mangueshi temple priest who was booked for molesting two women, has claimed that one of them fabricated the charges against him after he refused to allow the unmarried woman into the sanctum sanctorum.

Goa Police has started a probe into allegations of molestation raised against a priest attached to the popular Mangueshi temple in south Goa, after a victim filed an FIR, an officer said on Friday.

Goa Minister Govind Gaude and another BJP lawmaker on Thursday welcomed a formal probe into two complaints of alleged molestation filed with the Shree Mangueshi temple committee, accusing a priest of inappropriate behaviour.

The management of Shree Mangueshi temple said it could not come across "dependable evidence" after a Goan-origin medical student in the US complained of inappropriate behaviour by a priest in June.

Sixteen months after former Catholic priest and activist Bismarque Dias was found dead under mysterious circumstances, the state Human Rights Commission on Monday directed that his remains be formally laid to rest.

The Goa Human Rights Commission will tomorrow hear a petition filed by social activist Aires Rodrigues over alleged atrocities against demonstrators demanding proper investigations into the death of priest, Father Bismarque Dias.

A Goa legislator wants the chief minister to complain to the censor board over the depiction of the state and Christian priests in Kya Super Kool...