Vatican rejects Kerala nun Lucy Kalapura’s final appeal against dismissal

Kochi (Kerala) – Kerala’s rebel Catholic nun Lucy Kalapura, who hit headlines by taking on a Bishop allegedly accused of raping a nun, was told to vacate her convent after the highest judicial authority in the Catholic Church in the Vatican, the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura, rejected her appeal against the dismissal.

1. Lucy had a strained relation with her superiors since 2015, but it reached a flashpoint and came to the fore in September 2018 when she took part in a public agitation of nuns in Kochi, demanding the arrest of Bishop Franco Mulakkal, who is an alleged accused in a case pertaining to the rape of a nun belonging to Jalandhar-based Missionaries of Jesus.
2. Sister Lucy, 56, was dismissed from her congregation Franciscan Clarist Congregation (FCC) in May 2019, on charges of “violation of the vows of obedience and poverty”. In the same year, she had appealed to the Congregation for the Oriental Churches, which rejected the same in September 2019. Later, Lucy moved a final appeal with the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura in the Vatican, which is the highest point of appeal for a clergy for justice within the Church.

Franco Mulakkal rape case: Vatican rejects Sister Lucy’s appeal against her dismissal https://t.co/lTTRRGI1SK

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Reacting to the dismissal of her appeal, Lucy said she would not vacate the convent (at Karakkamala village in Wayanad District). “I would seek justice in the Indian legal system. I had petitioned the local Court, which has temporarily stayed the congregation order to vacate the convent. The petition is still pending in Court. I would not vacate the convent at any cost,’’ said the nun, who had retired as a teacher of a Government-aided school in Wayanad.