Kochi: The Syro-Malabar Media Commission has come out strongly against the continued spread of misinformation regarding the Catholic Church’s land ownership in India, calling it a deliberate attempt to mislead the public with baseless and exaggerated numbers. The Commission stated that such propaganda, which portrays the Church as holding vast tracts of land disproportionate to its population, reflects how easily fabricated claims can gain acceptance among uncritical sections of society.
The central allegation, circulated widely through social media and online portals, is that the Catholic Church owns 17.29 crore acres of land in India an area that amounts to nearly seven lakh square kilometres. To put this in perspective, the total agricultural and residential land in the country stands at 51 crore acres. According to the false claim, Catholics, who make up less than 1.6% of India’s population, control almost one-third of this land. The Commission dismissed these numbers as laughably impossible and noted that their very scale exposes them as a deliberate attempt to defame the Church.
What makes the falsehood even more absurd, the Commission pointed out, is the valuation attached to this land. The fabricated report claimed that the alleged 17.29 crore acres, including buildings and investments, are worth only ₹20,000 crore. This would mean that each acre, along with its institutions, has been valued at a mere ₹1,157 a figure completely divorced from reality, especially in a country where urban and rural land values are exponentially higher. To compound the contradiction, the same report alleged that the Government of India, which is legally the largest landholder, owns only 15,531 square kilometres, or around 38.3 lakh acres a number far below the land supposedly held by the Church.
The Commission further clarified that the so-called data was falsely attributed to the central government’s land information website. Upon verification, no such records or documents exist in any official source. The absence of verifiable evidence proves, it argued, that these reports were manufactured with the sole intention of portraying the Church as excessively wealthy and powerful. By doing so, those behind the propaganda sought to put the Church on the defensive and distract from its vast record of service to society.
In its rebuttal, the Commission reminded the public of how Catholic institutions in India have historically used their land and resources. Today, the Church runs more than 40,000 schools, over 400 colleges, and six universities across the nation, providing education not only to Catholics but to students from every community and background. In healthcare, the Church maintains 240 medical, nursing, and paramedical institutions, including five medical colleges, and a wide network of hospitals and clinics. Together, these institutions provide care for about 85,000 patients at a time, while reaching nearly five lakh people daily, especially the poor, elderly, disabled, and orphans.
The Commission stressed that these services far exceed the needs of the Catholic community, which makes up just 1.55% of the population about two crore people. In fact, the Church’s institutions serve more people than the entire Catholic population of the country each day, a testament to its commitment to the common good. The Commission underlined that wherever land is registered in the name of Catholic institutions, corresponding schools, hospitals, or charitable centres are present to serve the local population. This, it argued, demonstrates the transparency of the Church’s mission and exposes the falsity of accusations that depict it as hoarding land.
Warning about the dangers of repeated misinformation, the Commission stated that lies, when circulated often enough, may deceive a section of people. However, it reaffirmed that no matter how frequently they are shared, such falsehoods remain lies and cannot change reality. Cyberattacks and malicious campaigns launched under the cover of these allegations may temporarily influence public opinion, but they will not succeed in undermining the Church’s credibility or weakening its mission.
Concluding its statement, the Syro-Malabar Media Commission said that the Catholic Church in India will continue to focus on its service to the nation through education, healthcare, and charitable works, regardless of the propaganda aimed against it. The Church, it emphasized, will not be swayed by those who seek to spread hatred or suspicion but will instead remain steadfast in its calling to serve all people, irrespective of religion, caste, or region.