A Group of anonymous Priests from Kerala, have formed a “Vigilant Catholic” to counter “fake news” propaganda against the Church.
Sources said that the group wanted to counter the false propaganda happening against the Church in the social media in the wake of sex-related allegations against some clergy members recentl.
To Challenge these false propaganda a group of Catholic priests from Kerala have opened a Facebook page titled ‘Vigilant Catholic. Sources say that these priests were well versed in the Church’s positions on various public issues and had the legal background to handle the questions raised by online critics. The group administrators would directly contact the purveyors of ‘fake news’ against the three Catholic rites, Siyro-Malabar, Malankara and Latin in Kerala to set the record straight. If defamatory posts and comments continued, they said that critics would be handled legally.
The group members have not revealed their identities so as to avoid individual criticisms and personal comments. Group administrators said they welcomed healthy discussions from the public on any issue related to the Church. The page created last month already has 2,000 followers.
Meanwhile, spokesperson for Syro-Malabar Church Jimmy Poochakkattu said the church did not officially endorse the Facebook group though it was reportedly being run by a group of Catholic priests. “Of course, some of us have shared the contents of the page in our personal groups, but that does not mean that we encourage anonymous online campaign on behalf of the Church,”.
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