By Jose Kavi

New Delhi, Aug 20, 2023: Archbishop Andrews Thazhath of Trichur, the apostolic administrator of Ernakulam-Angamaly, says disobedience to the Pope’s delegate would mean ouster from the Catholic Church.

The Pope has through his delegate announced the final decision on the long-standing controversy over Mass in the archdiocese, the archbishop said on August 20.

“All those who have pledged allegiance to the Pope are bound to comply with the delegate’s decision,” Archbishop Thazhath asserted after all but 6 of the 328 parishes in the Ernakulam-Angamaly archdiocese defied the delegate.

The delegate, Jesuit Archbishop Cyril Vasil, on August 17 decreed that all parishes in the archdiocese should offer Sunday Masses on August 20 in the synod-approved mode. The delegate also threatened the dissident priests with excommunication if they disobeyed him.

The Almaya Munnetam (laity movement) that spearheads the protests against the uniform mode, says the archdiocese of Ernakulam-Angamaly “has completely rejected Archbishop Vasil’s order.”

The movement congratulated more than 450 priests of the archdiocese for “courageously” standing with its 550,000 Catholics.

Six churches offered the Mass according to the instructions of the synod. Mass was disrupted in seven other churches when the priests tried to follow the synod mode.

The parishioners of St Mary’s Basilica in Ernakulam foiled its vicar Father Anthony Poothaveli’s move to offer the synod Mass with police assistance.

Archbishop Thazhath reminded the dissident priests that at time of their priestly ordination they had taken a vow on the Bible that they would obey the Pope and the bishops, reported the Syro-Malabar Vision portal.

Pope Francis appointed Archbishop Thazhath of Trichur, an expert in the Oriental Code of Canon Law, on July 30, 2022, as the apostolic administrator of the archdiocese.

The archdiocese was lying vacant since July 26 that year when its metropolitan vicar Archbishop Antony Kariyil tendered his resignation to Apostolic Nuncio to India Archbishop Leopoldo Girelli at the Ernakulam archbishop’s residence.

Archbishop Kariyil’s resignation was seen as the fall out of his inability to convince the priests and laity in the archdiocese to follow the uniform mode.

The papal delegate was sent after Archbishop Thazhath failed to implement the uniform Mass in the Ernakulam-Angamaly archdiocese. The archbishop’s attempt to implement the synod decision with police assistance was met with stiff resistance by the dissidents. The protests led to the closure of the basilica church in December 2022.

The papal delegate, who came to Kerala on August 4, upset the dissidents when he announced a day later that his mandate was to implement the synod Mass in the archdiocese. The dissidents had suspected his neutrality as he was a classmate of Archbishop Thazhath in Rome.

He alienated the dissidents further when on August 15 urged the faithful of Ernakulam-Angamaly to obey Pope Francis and shun “troublemakers” who oppose the uniform mode.

“Are you with the Pope or against him?” the delegate asked the Catholics during a Mass at the Oriental Church’s headquarters in Kochi.

He also asked them if they wanted to be with the troublemakers “who lead you towards disobedience to the Holy Father, to the legitimate pastors of your Syro-Malabar Church and to the Catholic Church?”

He also termed as illegal their traditional way of celebrating Mass with the priest facing the congregation.

“Do you prefer to listen to your Pope, or do you prefer to listen – in the name of false solidarity, or because you have been intimidated, – to some priests who are leading you towards a de facto separation from the Catholic Church?” he asked.

He also advised the Catholics not to be intimidated by “small groups of violent protesters who fulfil the plans of some dark forces and come to disturb or even prevent the celebration of Qurbana according to the synodal decision?”

All this forced the dissidents to decide against any further discussions with the papal delegate who they allege had come with a closed mind.