By Salvatore Cernuzio
Vatican City, Dec 12, 2023: Pope Francis on December 11 received in audience Jesuit Archbishop Cyril Vasil, the Pontifical Delegate to the Archeparchy of Ernakulam-Angamaly, on the eve of the latter’s departure for Kerala, southern India, the base of the Syro-Malabar Church.
On December 7 December, Pope Francis sent a video message to the faithful of the Syro-Malabar Archeparchy, calling for an end to the divisions and violence caused by a dispute over the celebration of the Eucharistic liturgy, known as the Holy Qurbana.
The members of the Archeparchy continue to resist the liturgical indications definitively established by the Syro-Malabar Synod in 2021.
Archbishop Vasil, a former rector of the Pontifical Oriental Institute in Rome, is currently Archbishop of Košice in Slovakia for Catholics of the Byzantine Rite. He is leaving for Kerala on December 12.
Last August, he had already been sent by the Pope to the Archeparchy of Ernakulam-Angamaly, accompanied by Jesuit Father Sunny Kokkaravalayil, professor of canon law at the Orientale, in an attempt to find a solution to the discussion about the compromise on the single form of the celebration of the Mass – a compromise that has been accepted by all eparchies of the Syro-Malabar Church with the sole exception of the Archeparchy of Ernakulam-Angamaly.
“He came among you, and he too, on my behalf, has asked you to put an end to this fight, to put an end to the opposition and sometimes, to the violence — there has been some!” the Pope said in his video message.
Archbishop Vasil himself suffered acts of aggression by some of the faithful, who threw various objects at him during his previous journey. Earlier, the dissidents had burned images of Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, Prefect Emeritus of the Dicastery for the Oriental Churches; and of Major Archbishop Cardinal George Alencherry, the head of the Syro-Malabar Church.
The cardinal recently presented his resignation to Pope Francis, who accepted it together with that of the Apostolic Administrator Archbishop Andrews Thazhath of Trichur. The Pope has appointed a new Apostolic Administrator sede vacante et ad nutum Sanctae Sedis (“while the see is vacant and at the discretion of the Holy See”): Bishop Bosco Puthur, bishop emeritus of the Eparchy of Saint Thomas the Apostle of Melbourne of the Syro-Malabar Church.
The situation in this great Indian Church, with its ancient roots, has reached such a point of exasperation that the Pope has broadcast his personal video message to dispel any doubts about his position on the matter. In his video message, Pope Francis asks the faithful not to become a “sect” and not to bring the situation to the point where ecclesiastical sanctions become necessary.
With due respect Pope Francis, he is totally out of sync with reality on this issue. It is not a matter of disobedience. It’s a case of imposition. Resignations of some of the dramatis personae has only addressed the symptoms, not the disease. The people’s struggle for liturgical reforms according to Vatican II must continue unabated.