Dissident Catholic leaders in an Indian archdiocese have ex-pressed reluctance to follow the official liturgy of their Syro-Malabar Church despite a direction from Pope Francis to do so, forcing Church officials to say those who challenge the pope have no place in the Catholic Church.
“We want our newly appointed apostolic administrator to apprise Pope Francis about the truth” that people want celebrants to face them during the Mass, said retired Justice Kurian Joseph, a member of the Ernakulam-Angamaly archdiocese and a former judge of India’s Supreme Court (SC) said on Dec.10.
Joseph and several other leaders made similar demands while addressing a gathering of Catholics and some 500 priests, religious and nuns as they concluded the centenary of the establishment of the Syro-Malabar Hierarchy in the Ernakulam-Angamaly Archdiocese (1923-2023). Organizers said some 50,000 people gathered for the celebrations.
Their gathering came three days after the Church officials announced the resignation of the Church’s major archbishop Cardinal George Alencherry and the administrator Archbishop Andrew Thazhath.
The papal message also warned not to force authorities to declare them as people “no longer in communion” with the Church because they refused to follow the Church-approved liturgy.