The Syro Malabar Church Pala diocese has announced sops for all families in their diocese if they have five or more children and this would be applicable to couples who have been married after 2000.

This was announced by the Pala bishop Mar Joseph Kallarangatt while taking part in an online meeting organised by him. Posters have come out which explain the details.

The announcement, which comes at the time when the entire world has been struggling to control population growth, offers financial assistance of Rs 1,500 per month for families, scholarships for engineering studies and free medical aid for pregnancy-related needs from the fourth child.

Among the sops that have been offered in the poster, which reads: "Year of the Family, Live the joy of God's love includes a monthly scholarship of Rs 1500, starting from the fourth child and to all future kids of a family, will be given education with scholarship at the church-run St Joseph's College of Engineering and Technology, besides free medical facility for every child after the fourth will be offered at the church-run hospital".

"Often, families stop having children after the second or third child is born because of the increasing expenses involved in raising them. It is in such a context that we decided to provide a minimum financial assistance and other benefits to families. Moreover, we also took into account the call for a larger family concept of the Kerala Catholic Bishops' Council. The Church has been promoting more children in families for long. We have decided to take it seriously against the backdrop of the Covid pandemic and the Year of the Family celebrations," said Fr Joseph Kuttiankal, director of the Family Apostolate as per the New Indian Express report.

When eyebrows were raised on this, the bishop accepted that he had said this, and added that he stands by what he has said.

Meanwhile, the Church authorities pointed out they will come out with a detailed statement about it.

With IANS Inputs