Bishop Thomas Dabre of Pune, a city of 7.4 million in Maharashtra (map), faced criticism from some of the faithful after he took part in the launch of a social science journal affiliated with the Hindu nationalist Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).

“We Christians love our country and are patriots,” he said. These “are the principles of the RSS: love of the land, love of the people, and love of culture. In this context I said the principles and values of the RSS are acceptable to us Christians.”