Goanet Digest, Vol 21, Issue 207

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Today's Topics:

   1. Read: "From Pulpits to Pews, Trump and the Pope Are on the
      Minds of Catholics" (Vivek Pinto)
   2. BIMARU, Delimitation and the Idea of India that was Saved
      (Sandeep Heble)


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Message: 1
Date: Mon, 20 Apr 2026 10:18:28 +0900
From: Vivek Pinto <[email protected]>
To: Goanet <[email protected]>
Subject: [Goanet] Read: "From Pulpits to Pews, Trump and the Pope Are
	on the Minds of Catholics"
Message-ID:
	<CAH3OY9wxi5KjrjH5GpWSi+VV_evJCpE2mgdZvENY0oRs83dm=A@mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8"

By: Heather Knight, Robert Chiarito, Kevin Williams and Kyle Bagenstose
Published in: *The New York Times*
Date: April 19, 2026


At churches with connections to Pope Leo and the Trump administration,
pastors and parishioners speak out on the feud between the president and
the pontiff.

Pope Leo XIV?s first Easter address called for peace and dialogue in a time
of war in the Middle East. He got the dialogue, all right ? in the form of
an ongoing back and forth with the White House over who gets to weigh in on
politics and whether war can be righteous.

?On this day of celebration, let us abandon every desire for conflict,
domination and power, and implore the Lord to grant his peace to a world
ravaged by wars,? the first U.S.-born pontiff told tens of thousands of
people who packed St. Peter?s Square on April 5.

Mr. Trump called the pontiff ?weak on crime,? accusing him of ?catering to
the radical left.? The president posted an image, created by artificial
intelligence, of himself as a Jesus figure and also said the pope owed his
papacy to Mr. Trump. He later deleted the image, saying he had thought it
depicted him as a doctor.

Vice President JD Vance, who is the highest-ranking Catholic in federal
government, has taken the side of his boss.

The vice president said on Fox News that the pope should ?stick to matters
of, you know, what?s going on in the Catholic Church? and leave the public
policy to Mr. Trump.

Around the country, at Catholic churches where Mr. Vance and the pope have
roots, reporters for The New York Times asked worshipers what they thought
of the dispute.

Cincinnati
Back in 2019, St. Gertrude Church in Cincinnati got frequent visits from a
young man curious about Catholicism ? and politics. He was Mr. Vance, then
a 35-year-old venture capitalist who was raised in the evangelical church
but considered himself an atheist at the time.

Mr. Vance has said he was drawn to the Catholic Church?s ancient teachings.

On Sunday, the church service at St. Gertrude featured colorful vestments,
incense, a traditional homily and plenty of squirming children ? but there
was no mention from the altar of the dispute.

Joe Schmidt, 46, a local parishioner, said the parish community was
theologically conservative but tried to avoid politics. He added that he
was glad the pope had spoken out about Mr. Trump?s threats to destroy
Iranian civilization.

?We always want peace,? he said.

The Rev. Reginald Hoefer, the parochial vicar, said he did not want to
weigh in on the back and forth.

?I don?t really follow the news,? he said. ?I?m too busy running the
church.?

Villanova University
There was far more discussion about the dispute at the university where
Pope Leo, then Robert Prevost, earned a bachelor?s degree in mathematics in
1977. The student body at the school outside Philadelphia leans to the left
and in 2024 voted for Kamala Harris over Mr. Trump by a 2-to-1 margin,
according to the student newspaper, the Villanovan.

Rev. Peter Donohue, the university?s president, touched on the disagreement
in his homily without calling anybody out by name.

Father Donohue likened the back and forth to Luke 24:13-35, which tells the
story of two disciples of Jesus so engaged in conversation about the news
of his crucifixion that they failed to recognize Jesus himself, as he met
them along a road and spoke of Scripture.

Father Donohue implored his congregation to similarly not get wrapped up in
the news but instead to turn to gospel for answers.

Hope DiGiovanni, 22, a senior from New Jersey, said she was happy that Pope
Leo was ?taking a stand on current issues and standing up for the faith.?

Max D?Amore, a freshman from Massachusetts, said that when a teacher in a
freshman humanities course started a discussion about the exchange between
the president and the pontiff, his classmates appeared uniformly opposed to
Mr. Trump?s statements. Students were particularly turned off by the
president?s posting the image likening himself to Jesus, Mr. D?Amore said.

?The reactions were definitely like, you know, who would do something like
that?? he added.

Chicago
At Holy Name Cathedral, the mother church of the Archdiocese of Chicago,
where Pope Leo grew up, the Rev. Louis Cameli addressed the dispute head-on
at the Saturday evening mass.

?The church doesn?t offer policies or strategies or directions on how to
govern,? he said. ?The church offers a vision of values, values that
respect life. Those values ? that?s what the Holy Father is reminding all
of us about.?

Sam Turner, a 49-year-old physician from Virginia who attended the Mass
while visiting Chicago, said he thought that most of Mr. Trump?s policies
aligned with the Catholic Church, citing the push to limit abortion rights
in particular.

?I think he does make some Catholics scratch their heads, but overall his
policies are supportive and align with church teachings,? Mr. Turner said.

On Sunday morning, at Christ Our Savior Catholic Parish in suburban South
Holland, Ill., which bills itself as ?the de facto home parish of Pope Leo
XIV,? the dispute was on the minds of several parishioners.

Mary Onwunah, a 60-year-old nurse, called the president?s criticism of the
pope ?ridiculous? and said she appreciated that the pope had not gone quiet.

?He?s not going to succumb to the president,? she said.
Heather Knight is a reporter in San Francisco, leading The Times?s coverage
of the Bay Area and Northern California.


------------------------------

Message: 2
Date: Mon, 20 Apr 2026 11:28:13 +0530
From: Sandeep Heble <[email protected]>
To: [email protected]
Subject: [Goanet] BIMARU, Delimitation and the Idea of India that was
	Saved
Message-ID:
	<CACB95nd7VUbsDNaozuwiaZ-k0RPmQfHvg435=MTnwtf7xbZ-jA-JsoAwUIsXosN+BqQ9rBEUg@public.gmane.org>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8"

BIMARU, Delimitation and the Idea of India that was Saved

BIMARU was a term coined by demographer Ashish Bose in the 1980s for the
northern states of Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh.
Those who followed politics in that era will be familiar with the term. It
was a play on the Hindi word bimar - sick - describing states then seen as
lagging in health, literacy, population control and other development
indicators vis-?-vis the southern and western states.

Yet, historically, these very poorly performing states enjoyed the greatest
political advantage because of the nature of electoral representation.
South and West, despite often performing better, carried lower significance
in the national power structure. Had the delimitation Bill been passed,
this imbalance would have become even more lopsided. The new Bill would
have exponentially increased the power of the cow belt, while South India,
along with western and northeastern states, could under such a formula have
been pushed to the sidelines in the larger scheme of governance. Much like
turning a classroom upside down - where habitual backbenchers or those
fairing poorly at examinations become head boys, and the toppers told to
lower their heads and obey.

And who knows what might have transpired after that.

The new equations could have led to a domination of northern political and
cultural templates - Hindi edging out regional languages, a northern
religious template overshadowing regional traditions, ?Vegetarian-only
city? models seen as in parts of North India could have been replicated
elsewhere. Over time, this North culture projected as nationalism, and
diversity seen as deviation or even an anti-national act.

To draw a historical parallel, we could have been heading towards a model
resembling the Delhi Sultanate or Aurangzeb?s rule, where distant regions
existed less as equal status partners and more as tributary vassals to a
single Empire.

That is why one has to thank the Opposition for ensuring the Bill was
defeated, or at least did not secure the two-thirds majority needed for
such a grim reality to unfold. Had that happened, it may have gone down as
a historic blunder, causing irreversible damage to the social and cultural
fabric of the country, with a dominant North lobby exercising
disproportionate influence over the South, West, North East and pretty much
the rest of India.

This was never about Women's Reservations. That Bill was passed much
earlier in 2023. This was about increasing the number of seats - a
disguised delimitation Bill. As clear as that.

There is a reason for every citizen to celebrate the fall of this Bill. The
very idea of India - of equal status, equal dignity and equal opportunity
for all states - has been preserved and saved, at least for the day, and
one must rejoice for that. Not blindly accept what the Government of the
day wants us to believe!

If delimitation is ever carried out in future, it must not be based on
indicators like population that rewards demographic growth and penalises
good governance. It must evolve a fair formula that recognises performance
- rewarding states that have delivered in education, health, population
control and development besides geographical boundaries, because to reward
underperformance is to set a dangerous precedent for the republic.

Should India ever be governed by the likes of Dr A P J Kalam or do we make
it easier for someone like the new Bihar CM to gain control? Ask yourselves!

Regards
Sandeep Heble
Panaji, Goa


End of Goanet Digest, Vol 21, Issue 207
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