Vatican Appointee Given Police Protection in India

UCANews ^ | 12/6/22

[marshmallow]

Court granted Archbishop Andrews Thazhath's plea as liturgical dispute in a Syro-Malabar Church archdiocese has aggravated

A top court in the southern Indian state of Kerala has ordered police protection for the apostolic administrator of an archdiocese in the Eastern rite Syro-Malabar Church, which is embroiled in a bitter liturgical dispute.

The Kerala High Court granted the request made by Archbishop Andrews Thazhath in his petition on Dec. 5.

The court also directed the police to remove the protesting priests and laity blocking his entry into the Archbishop’s House.

The Vatican appointed Archbishop Thazhath as the apostolic administrator of the Ernakulam-Angamaly Archdiocese on July 30 to settle the more than five-decades-old liturgy dispute over the adoption of a Synod-ordered Mass requiring the priests to face the altar during the Eucharistic prayer.

However, a group of priests and lay people in the archdiocese have taken control of the Archbishop’s House since Nov. 21 and refused his access to it.

The single bench of Justice Anu Sivaraman in a brief order termed those who are blocking the archbishop’s entry to the Archbishop's House as "miscreants or outsiders." 

Archbishop Thazhath in his petition mentioned Father Sebastian Thalian, convener of the Archdiocesan Protection Committee, and Riju Davis, secretary of the Archdiocesan Movement for Transparency (ATM), as the respondents.

The ongoing liturgical dispute took an ugly turn when Archbishop Thazhath was denied entry inside the St Mary’s Cathedral Basilica to offer Mass on Nov. 27.