There are ten times more Catholics (in Kerala) than elsewhere (in India), but they live in peace with the Hindus and Muslims. Education is generalized, with equality between men and women. The only threat to this miracle comes from a Marxist government. (Sandro Magister, chiesa.espresso.repubblica.it)

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Asia’s two giants are emblematic. Not only from China, but also from democratic India the news media constantly report cases of violence against Christians. In recent years, Orissa has been an authentic place of martyrdom.

And yet not all of India is like this. There is a region in which Christians are ten times as numerous – 20 percent, as opposed to 2 percent of the national media – and above all live in peace.

That region is Kerala. Christianity has extremely ancient roots there, and the Christian imprint is still extraordinary. Kerala is not rich, but it is by far the most educated state in India, with very high levels of education among women as well (in the photo). It is the state that for many decades has had the most balanced birth rate, fundamentally because all of the girls go to school, and therefore get married later than girls elsewhere. Most of the schools there, of every order and degree, are Christian.

Kerala is also the Indian state with the highest level of literacy. Since last year, a weekly edition of “L’Osservatore Romano” has been printed there in the local language, Malayalam. 20,000 copies of it are sold, twice as many as the Italian language edition.

FULL STORY

The Kerala Exception. A Trip to India’s Most Christian and Peaceful State ^[1] (chiesa.espresso.repubblica.it)