The controversy came after Fr Roland Colhoun preached a sermon in Drumsurn in Northern Ireland earlier this month.

The priest said he warned about several aspects of the new-age movement, including yoga and Indian head massages.

Fr Colhoun told the Derry Journal that, while people may decide to take up yoga with good intentions, they could set themselves on a path towards "the bad spiritual domain" and even "Satan and the fallen angels".

He told the Journal: "Pope Francis said 'do not seek spiritual answers in yoga classes'. Yoga is certainly a risk. There's the spiritual health risk.

"When you take up those practices from other cultures, which are outside our Christian domain, you don't know what you are opening yourself up to.

"I'm not saying everyone gets it, or that it happens every time, and people may well be doing yoga harmlessly.

"But there‘s always a risk."

The president of Universal Society of Hinduism, Rajan Zed, urged Pope Francis to take disciplinary action against Fr Colhoun for linking yoga to Satan.

Mr Zed noted that the Vatican Library itself carries books on yoga.

He said that yoga, although introduced and nourished by Hinduism, was "a world heritage and liberation powerhouse to be utilised by all".

In a homily on January 9, Pope Francis said that only the Holy Spirit can teach true love.

"You can take a million catechetical courses, a million courses in spirituality, a million courses in yoga, Zen and all these things," Francis said.

"But all of this will never be able to give you the freedom" of being a child of God, he said.

Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, before he was Pope Benedict XVI, warned Christians that yoga, Zen, and other forms of transcendental meditation could "degenerate into a cult of the body" that devalues prayer.

In 2011, the Vatican's chief exorcist said practising yoga is satanic.

Sources

• The Independent
• Belfast Newsletter
• Image: The Sport in Mind

Distinguished Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in speaking in Nevada has asked Herald Editor-in-Chief, Tim Murphy, and Board Chairman of its parent APN News & Media Peter Cosgrove to apologise immediately and publish the apology on the front page of the paper for this trivialisation of the Hindu goddess. Moreover, Herald and other APN media outlets should print/broadcast an introductory piece about Hinduism and its deities to create better understanding in society, Zed added.

The Herald's June 28 edition edition had published a photograph of Goddess Kali holding a pack of cigarettes besides other objects in the article titled "Guardians at the Superette".

Kali, who personifies Sakti or divine energy, is widely worshipped by Hindus. She is considered the goddess of time and change. Some Bengali poets described her as supreme deity.

Source

• The Jet
• Times of India
• www.lotus sculpture.com