Pope Francis Warns the Catholic Syro-Malabar Church in India and Calls for Unity Over Liturgical Dispute
The Vatican released that Pope Francis sent a video message to the Syro-Malabar Archeparchy of Ernakulam-Angamaly, India. Pope Francis warns the faithful about the controversy surrounding the Liturgy and appeals for unity. Due to a dispute over the liturgy, the Pope is calling on the faithful of the Syro-Malabar Archeparchy of Ernakulam to conform to the decisions of the Holy Synod or risk being declared outside of communion with the Church. The Syro-Malabar Church is the second largest of the Eastern churches in union with Rome, with about 4.25 million faithful. The Archeparchy of Ernakulam-Angamaly is the primatial see of the Syro-Malabar Church and home of the Major Archbishop. The Archeparchy has been undergoing an ongoing conflict concerning the way the Holy Eucharist is celebrated. A compromise liturgical practice was endorsed and imposed by the Holy Synod – the highest ecclesial authority in the Syro-Malabar Church. Although the Synod’s decision concerning the Eucharistic liturgy, or “Qurbana”, was received by the other dioceses within the Church, the Major Archeparchy has largely refused to obey, leading to conflict and at times even violence, as the Pope notes. However, in his video message, Pope Francis indicates that there are other, worldly reasons for opposition, having nothing to do with the liturgy. Two senior leaders of India-based Eastern rite Syro-Malabar Church, including its head and major archbishop Cardinal George Alencherry, resigned on Dec. 7 during the dispute. “Pope Francis accepted my request for stepping down considering my health condition and increasing requirements of pastoral care,” Cardinal Alencharry announced at a press conference at the headquarters of the Church based in Ernakulam district in the southern state of Kerala. The cardinal also announced the resignation of Archbishop Andrews Thazhath, the apostolic administrator of the Ernakulam-Angamaly archdiocese.
VIDEO MESSAGE FROM THE HOLY FATHER FRANCIS
TO THE ARCHIEPARCHY OF ERNAKULAM-ANGAMALY OF THE SYRO-MALABARIANS
TO THE ARCHIEPARCHY OF ERNAKULAM-ANGAMALY OF THE SYRO-MALABARIANS
1. Brothers and sisters of the Archeparchy of Ernakulam-Angamaly, I am close to you!
2. I have been following you for years, I know the faith and apostolic commitment of the beloved Syro-Malabar Church, which is a source of joy and pride for the Universal Church, and this is why my heart is sad today as I speak to you .
3. Your Synod, after long and tiring work, has found an agreement on the way of celebrating the Holy Qurbana. Charity and love for communion pushed its members to take this step, even if some of them do not consider this form of celebration ideal. These are the sacrifices that communion requires!
4. But the Church is communion. If there is no communion, there is no Church. She is a cult.
5. I know that for years some, who should be examples and true teachers of communion, especially priests, have been pushing you to disobey and oppose the decisions of the Synod. Brothers and sisters, don't follow them!
6. Discussion, when it is not calm, generates violence. And there has been and is violence against you, especially among you against those who want to remain in communion and celebrate as your Church has established.
7. I too have urged you several times to be docile to your Church. How can it be Eucharist if communion is broken, if there is disrespect for the Blessed Sacrament, amidst fights and brawls?
8. I know that there are reasons for opposition that have nothing to do with the celebration of the Eucharist nor with the Liturgy. They are worldly reasons. They don't come from the Holy Spirit. If they don't come from the Holy Spirit, they come from elsewhere.
9. For this reason I have carefully and timely studied the reasons that have been put forward for years to convince you. I have already written to you several times in the past, but I know that not everyone has read my letters.
10. Now I have decided to address you, the holy faithful people of God, the clergy, the men and women religious and above all you, dear lay faithful, who have so much faith in the Lord and who love the Church. And I do it in this somewhat unusual way, so that no one will have any doubts about what the Pope thinks.
11. In the name of the Lord, for the spiritual good of your Church, of our Church, I ask you to heal this rupture. It is your Church, it is our Church. Restore communion, remain in the Catholic Church!
12. And you, priests, remember your ordination and the commitments you have undertaken. Do not separate yourself from the path of your Church, but walk with the Synod, your Bishops, the Major Archbishop. You agree to put into practice what your Synod has established.
13. I have sent you one of my delegates in the person of Archbishop Cyril Vasil'. He came among you and he too, in my name, asked you to put an end to the struggle, to put an end to the opposition and, sometimes, to the violence - it exists!
14. Don't you see that in this way the Church is blocked and many good initiatives can no longer be carried out at the service of the holy people of God, at the service of the sanctification of the people of God?
15. Ensure that for Christmas 2023 your Archdiocese agrees, humbly and faithfully, to catch up with the rest of your Church, respecting all the indications of your Synod.
16. Please be careful! Be careful that the devil does not lead you to turn into a sect. You are churches, do not become sects. Do not force the competent ecclesiastical authority to take note that you have left the Church, because you are no longer in communion with your Pastors and with the Successor of the Apostle Peter, called to confirm all brothers and sisters in the faith and to preserve them in the unity of Church. With great pain, then, the relevant sanctions will have to be taken. I don't want to come to that.
17. For next Christmas, therefore, in the Archeparchy of Ernakulam-Angamaly as in the entire Syro-Malabar Church, the Qurbana should be celebrated in communion, following the indications of the Synod. Remember your Major Archbishop in the Liturgy and pray for him. This has always been an important sign that you recognize yourselves in the unity of the Church. Then it will be Christmas for all your people, for everyone.
18. Please do not continue to hurt the body of Christ! Don't separate yourself from it anymore! And even if there have been wrongs against you, forgive them generously.
19. May the Eucharist be the model of your unity. Do not shatter the Body of Christ which is the Church, so as not to eat and drink your condemnation (see 1Cor 11,29).
20. May the Lord bless you and may the Holy Spirit enlighten you. And please don't forget to pray for me. Thank you!
2. I have been following you for years, I know the faith and apostolic commitment of the beloved Syro-Malabar Church, which is a source of joy and pride for the Universal Church, and this is why my heart is sad today as I speak to you .
3. Your Synod, after long and tiring work, has found an agreement on the way of celebrating the Holy Qurbana. Charity and love for communion pushed its members to take this step, even if some of them do not consider this form of celebration ideal. These are the sacrifices that communion requires!
4. But the Church is communion. If there is no communion, there is no Church. She is a cult.
5. I know that for years some, who should be examples and true teachers of communion, especially priests, have been pushing you to disobey and oppose the decisions of the Synod. Brothers and sisters, don't follow them!
6. Discussion, when it is not calm, generates violence. And there has been and is violence against you, especially among you against those who want to remain in communion and celebrate as your Church has established.
7. I too have urged you several times to be docile to your Church. How can it be Eucharist if communion is broken, if there is disrespect for the Blessed Sacrament, amidst fights and brawls?
8. I know that there are reasons for opposition that have nothing to do with the celebration of the Eucharist nor with the Liturgy. They are worldly reasons. They don't come from the Holy Spirit. If they don't come from the Holy Spirit, they come from elsewhere.
9. For this reason I have carefully and timely studied the reasons that have been put forward for years to convince you. I have already written to you several times in the past, but I know that not everyone has read my letters.
10. Now I have decided to address you, the holy faithful people of God, the clergy, the men and women religious and above all you, dear lay faithful, who have so much faith in the Lord and who love the Church. And I do it in this somewhat unusual way, so that no one will have any doubts about what the Pope thinks.
11. In the name of the Lord, for the spiritual good of your Church, of our Church, I ask you to heal this rupture. It is your Church, it is our Church. Restore communion, remain in the Catholic Church!
12. And you, priests, remember your ordination and the commitments you have undertaken. Do not separate yourself from the path of your Church, but walk with the Synod, your Bishops, the Major Archbishop. You agree to put into practice what your Synod has established.
13. I have sent you one of my delegates in the person of Archbishop Cyril Vasil'. He came among you and he too, in my name, asked you to put an end to the struggle, to put an end to the opposition and, sometimes, to the violence - it exists!
14. Don't you see that in this way the Church is blocked and many good initiatives can no longer be carried out at the service of the holy people of God, at the service of the sanctification of the people of God?
15. Ensure that for Christmas 2023 your Archdiocese agrees, humbly and faithfully, to catch up with the rest of your Church, respecting all the indications of your Synod.
16. Please be careful! Be careful that the devil does not lead you to turn into a sect. You are churches, do not become sects. Do not force the competent ecclesiastical authority to take note that you have left the Church, because you are no longer in communion with your Pastors and with the Successor of the Apostle Peter, called to confirm all brothers and sisters in the faith and to preserve them in the unity of Church. With great pain, then, the relevant sanctions will have to be taken. I don't want to come to that.
17. For next Christmas, therefore, in the Archeparchy of Ernakulam-Angamaly as in the entire Syro-Malabar Church, the Qurbana should be celebrated in communion, following the indications of the Synod. Remember your Major Archbishop in the Liturgy and pray for him. This has always been an important sign that you recognize yourselves in the unity of the Church. Then it will be Christmas for all your people, for everyone.
18. Please do not continue to hurt the body of Christ! Don't separate yourself from it anymore! And even if there have been wrongs against you, forgive them generously.
19. May the Eucharist be the model of your unity. Do not shatter the Body of Christ which is the Church, so as not to eat and drink your condemnation (see 1Cor 11,29).
20. May the Lord bless you and may the Holy Spirit enlighten you. And please don't forget to pray for me. Thank you!
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