Liturgical dispute: Papal delegate arrives second time in Kochi

By Jose Kavi

New Delhi, Dec 13, 2023: Papal delegate Jesuit Archbishop Cyril Vasil arrived in Kochi on December 13, a week after Pope Francis personally intervened in the vexing liturgical dispute in the Syro-Malabar Church’s Ernakulam-Angamaly archdiocese.

Archbishop Vasil was received at 8 am in the Kochi International Airport by a team led by Bishop Emeritus Bosco Puthur of Melbourne, the temporary apostolic administrator of the troubled archdiocese.

This is the second time Archbishop Vasil is visiting the southern Indian state of Kerala to resolve the decades-old liturgical dispute. His earlier two-week visit that ended August 21 had left 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.

He had apparently alienated the majority of the priests and lay people in the archdiocese by his insistence on implementing the uniform method of celebrating Mass.

Archbishop Vasil’s latest visit takes place after Pope Francis on December 7 accepted the resignations Cardinal George Alencherry, head of the Syro-Malabar Church, and Archbishop Andrews Thazhath of Trichur from the post of apostolic administrator of the archdiocese, a demand made by the dissidents.

However, the Pope, through a video message, asked the priests of the archdiocese to celebrate the uniform mode of Mass from Christmas eve. The Pope also pleaded with them not to divide the ancient Church or create another sect.

He then appointed Bishop Sebastian Vaniyapurackal to function as the administrator of the Syro-Malabar Church, and Bishop Puthur the temporary administrator of the archdiocese.

The major archbishop is to be elected at the bishops’ synod in January.

Archbishop Vasil’s engagements in Kochi are kept under wraps, although he was expected to meet groups of priests on the day of his arrival.

Archbishop Vasil had met Pope Francis before departing for India.

The Ernakulam dissidents are apprehensive about the papal delegate’s visit.

“He has done enough damage last time. He will further muddy the matter by orchestrating the December 25 deadline with disastrous consequences,” warns Sebastian Joseph, a lay leader in the archdiocese.

Sebastian told Matters India that they expected the papal delegate to act independently when he first came to Kochi.

“But he became a pawn in the hands of (Archbishop) Thazhath and his coterie. He may not take it kindly to the humiliation heaped upon him and will be more aggressive. I see the possibility of expelling a couple of priests who are in the forefront of the struggle thinking that others will fall in line,” he told Matters India.

But such a development would be catastrophic to the Syro Malabar Church, Sebastian warns. “If the priests and laity stick to their decision nothing will happen. A worst scenario could be a split.”

The group opposed to the synod decision on Mass says it will continue negotiations with Rome to point out factual errors that had crept into the Pope’s understanding of the situation.

But a statement from the Syro Malabar Church’s Media Commission denied that the Pope had been misled and that the Pope’s video message has factual errors

The commission pointed out that Pope Francis’ December 7 address to the people of Ernakulam-Angamaly archdiocese in a video message asserted his firm decision to implement the unified method of celebrating Mass in Ernakulam-Angamaly archdiocese from Christmas.

“Therefore, all those who acknowledge the Pope as the father and head of the Catholic Church and wish to remain in the communion of the Holy Church are obliged to obey this decision of the Pope,” the statement said.