Order founded by Mother Teresa 'looking into' baby trafficking charges

The Missionaries of Charity, a Roman Catholic order founded by Mother Teresa in India, said it was 'carefully looking into' charges of baby trafficking levelled against a nun and a worker at one of its homes.

Indian authorities sealed a home which provides shelter for pregnant unmarried women run by the charity in eastern Jharkhand state on Thursday and charged a nun and a worker there with baby trafficking.

'It is a horrible story....we are all shocked. It is against our moral conviction,' Missionaries of Charity spokeswoman Sunita Kumar told Reuters.

The arrests were made after the state's Child Welfare Committee registered a complaint that the women sold an infant born to an unwed mother at the Nirmal Hriday shelter in the state capital, Ranchi, to a childless couple.

Nirmal Hriday means 'pure heart' in Hindi.

There have been a number of reports of babies and children being trafficked through charity-run homes and hospitals in India, which campaigners say is driven by a long waiting list for adoption.

The Missionaries of Charity stopped organising adoptions in India in 2015 saying they disagreed with government rules that made it easier for single, divorced, and separated people to adopt children.

News
Fire severely damages historic Amsterdam church on New Year’s Day
Fire severely damages historic Amsterdam church on New Year’s Day

A major fire tore through one of Amsterdam’s best-known historic buildings in the early hours of New Year’s Day, seriously damaging the property and forcing people to leave nearby homes.

Rwanda’s president on the defensive over church closures
Rwanda’s president on the defensive over church closures

Rwandan President Paul Kagame defended the government's forced closure of Evangelical churches, accusing them of being a “den of bandits” led by deceptive relics of colonialism. 

We are the story still being written
We are the story still being written

The story of Christ continues in the lives of those who take up His calling.

Christians harassed, attacked all over India at Christmas
Christians harassed, attacked all over India at Christmas

International Christian Concern reported more than 80 incidents in India, some of them violent, over Christmas.