Cardinal Alencherry said he had resigned first in 2019, and then agains in November 2022. The Pope finally accepted it.
Cardinal George Alencherry.
Head of the Syro-Malabar Church, Cardinal George Alencherry, announced his resignation from the post on Thursday, 7 December.
His decision came amid an ongoing feud in the Ernakulam-Angamaly Archdiocese of the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church, involving the implementation of a uniform Holy Mass and the church’s land dealings.
Alencherry held the position of Major Archbishop of the Ernakulam-Angamaly Archdiocese.
In a press conference held in Kochi, the Cardinal said that he had, back in 2019, tendered his resignation before the Pope, but the same was not accepted as the Church Synod did not agree with his decision.
Subsequently, he again tendered his resignation in November last year, and a year later the Pope had accepted it and allowed him to relinquish his position as Major Archbishop and head of the Syro-Malabar Church, Alencherry said.
Alencherry, who was born on 19 April, 1945, at Thuruthy, Changanacherry, in the Kottayam district of Kerala, was created and proclaimed as Cardinal by Benedict XVI in the consistory of 18 February, 2012, of the Title of San Bernardo alle Terme (St Bernard at the Baths).
Prior to that, in May 2011, Pope Benedict XVI had granted him the requested ecclesial communion after his canonical election on 24 May, 2011, as Major Archbishop of Ernakulam-Angamaly for Syro-Malabars by the Syro-Malabar Synod.
When Pope John Paul II established the new Diocese of Thuckalay on 11 November, 1996, Alencherry was appointed the first Bishop, and he received episcopal ordination on February 2, 1997.
Alencherry, who holds a BA in Economics from St Berchmans College and an MA from the Pontifical Institute of Theology and Philosophy, was ordained a priest on December 18, 1972, and served as vicar of the filial church at Periyarmugham and then as assistant vicar at the Cathedral Church of Changanacherry.
The various offices held by him include, director of the Archdiocesan Faith Formation Department, secretary of the Commission for Catechism of the Kerala Catholic Bishops’ Council (KCBC), secretary of the Synod of Bishops, and chairman of the Syro-Malabar Major Archiepiscopal Commission for Catechism, and of the Commission for the Laity of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI).
Alencherry was also the president of the Synod of the Syro-Malabar Church. He was also part of the conclave of March 2013 which elected Pope Francis.
Central investigation agencies, including the Enforcement Directorate (ED), have been looking into a multi-crore land scam involving the cardinal and his Church.
The cardinal is facing charges of cheating, criminal breach of trust, forgery and criminal conspiracy under Sections 120B, 406, 409, 418, 420, 423, 465, 467, 468 and 34 of the Indian Penal Code.
The charge sheet said the cardinal presided over the land deal by entering into a criminal conspiracy with the local land mafia. It accused the Church head of selling prime land with a market value of ₹30 crore for just ₹9 crore.
The Ernakulam-Angamaly Archdiocese of the Church had to pay a fine of around ₹6.5 crore to the Income-Tax Department for tax evasion.
The Church has also been embroiled in a controversy over how the Holy Mass should be conducted.
The Church Synod had introduced a uniform way of celebrating Mass in August 2021. According to it, the priest celebrating the Holy Mass faces the faithful in its first and last parts. The priests turn towards the altar for the rest of the Mass.
While all other dioceses under the Syro-Malabar Church adopted the synod-approved Holy Mass, the majority of the priests of the Ernakulam-Angamaly Archdiocese, supported by their laity, opposed it, saying that they could not depart from the traditional way of celebrating Mass — where the priest faces the faithful throughout.
The opposition to the Synod’s directive spun out of control and turned violent. Even women were verbally abused in the church hall, forcing the closure of the St Mary’s Cathedral Basilica in Kochi in January.
The Syro-Malabar Catholic Church is one of the 22 Eastern Oriental Churches in full communion with the Pope. The Synod’s attempt to reopen the Basilica after arriving at a consensus failed on 16 June.
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