By Matters India Reporter

Kochi: Cardinal George Alencherry, head of the Syro-Malabar Church, has promised to resolve the controversy over a land deal raging for weeks.

“The issue will be resolved soon,” Cardinal Alencherry said in his first public statement on the controversial land deal in the Ernakulam-Angamaly archdiocese. The controversy is over the archdiocese suffering a huge financial loss in the deal.

He made the promise on January 21 during the blessing of the renovated church at Kuravilangad, one of the ancient Christian centers in India.

The prelate thanked all those who gave him strength through their prayers and urged them to continue with their prayers. “There is no place for division among Christians. Certain things occur due to the shortcomings. That will be rectified,” he added.

The cardinal is also the head of Archbishop of Ernakulam-Angamaly Archdiocese. His statement came after a section of Syro-Malabar Catholics accused him of selling prime land of the archdiocese in Kochi for “a very low price.”

They had alleged the role of land mafia in the sale of land in a “non-transparent manner,” violating even civil and canon laws.

Supporters of the cardinal had dubbed the charges against the chief priest as a ‘misinformation campaign.’

The All India Catholic Almaya Forum has urged the priests to stop the campaign being carried out against the cardinal. They have alleged that a handful of priests were trying to defame the Syro-Malabar Church, having more than 5.5 million followers and 35 dioceses.

Earlier, the archdiocesan Presbyteral Council had alleged that a commission appointed by the cardinal to enquire into the land business had found serious violations of canon and civil laws.

According to the priests, the commission found that revenue from sale of 3.06 acres of the land in Kochi city was expected to fetch 270 million rupees as per the understanding, but officially only 90 million rupees had been shown as sale proceeds.

They claimed that an amount of 180 million was ‘shrouded in mystery’ and remained unaccounted.