By Jose Kavi

New Delhi, Aug 23, 2023: Jesuit Archbishop Cyril Vasil, the papal representative appointed to resolve the liturgy dispute in the Archdiocese of Ernakulam-Angamaly, has left for Rome after completing the first phase of his mission, says a press statement.

The delegate will apprise Pope Francis and the Pontifical Congregations for the Oriental Rites of his findings on the controversy, adds the August 23 press release issued by the Church’s public relations officer, Vincentian Father Antony Vadakkekara.

“He will continue to be the Pontifical Delegate of the Archdiocese of Ernakulam-Angamaly. He has informed that he will come again as part of the mission and that the mechanisms for follow-up have been formed in the archdiocese,” the press release explained.

Archbishop Vasil has left India leaving the fate of more than 400 priests uncertain for defying his ultimatum to offer Masses on August 20 in the synod-approved mode in all parishes and institutions in the archdiocese.

The August 17 order that threatened excommunication for disobedience further infuriated the dissident priests and lay people who burned copies of the delegate’s order the same evening.

Only six of the 328 parishes celebrated Sunday Masses in the synod mode on August 20.

On August 21, Archbishop Vasil addressed the opening of the Syro-Malabar Church’s 31st Synod at Mount St. Thomas, the Oriental rite’s headquarters in Kakkanad, a suburb of Kochi, Kerala. He said the indiscipline shown by the dissidents in the Ernakulam-Angamaly archdiocese was dangerous for the Church.

Cardinal George Alencherry, head of the Syro-Malabar Church who opened the synod, said the protests against the pontifical delegate had deeply saddened the Church and remined his people that Church’s strength lies in unity.

The cardinal also termed as unjustifiable and un-Christian the dissidents raising inflammatory slogans against the delegate and creating a tense situation at the archdiocese’s main church, St Mary’s Basilica Cathedral. the cathedral.

The dissidents on August 14 tried to prevent Archbishop Vasil from entering the cathedral but managed to enter it with the help of a large number of police.

The pontifical delegate came to Kerala on August 4 to resolve the decades-old dispute over the mode of celebrating Mass in the archdiocese. However, he met with stiff opposition when he announced that his mission was to implement the synod approved mode in the archdiocese.

Most priests and Catholics have demanded that only the traditional way of celebrating Mass should be allowed in the archdiocese where the priest faces the congregation throughout. In the synod-approved Mass, the celebrant faces the altar during the Eucharistic prayer.