The Church’s highest judicial authority has rejected an appeal to reexamine issues surrounding land deals that provoked uproar among Indian Catholics.
In a decree dated Jan. 31, the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura dismissed the appeal concerning the proposed sale of two properties and the restitution of land losses sustained by the Archeparchy of Ernakulam-Angamaly.
Ernakulam-Angamaly is the pre-eminent see of the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church, the second-largest of the 23 Eastern Catholic Churches in full communion with Rome. The archeparchy’s head is Cardinal George Alencherry, the leader of the Syro-Malabar Church.
Archbishop Leopoldo Girelli, the apostolic nuncio to India, informed  Ernakulam-Angamaly’s apostolic administrator Archbishop Andrews Thazhath of the Apostolic Signatura’s decision in a letter dated April 3.
“As your Grace will see, the Supreme Tribunal, after carefully studying the case, has now decreed that ‘in matters already decided, let there be no reopening, and let this be informed to those concerned, with all the effect of law,’” Girelli wrote.
The decree is the latest twist in a long-running controversy over real estate transactions that lost the archeparchy in the southern Indian state of Kerala a reputed $10 million and led to proceedings in the country’s civil courts.
Critics have accused archeparchy officials of selling the land for far less than its estimated worth, and of mismanaging the Church’s assets at a time when the archeparchy was already struggling to pay back a large bank loan.
The affair sparked outrage among the archeparchy’s priests, who demanded the removal of Cardinal Alencherry in a revolt known as the ”Ernakulam priests’ rebellion.”
In June 2018, the Vatican appointed a temporary apostolic administrator who oversaw the archeparchy for a year.
In August 2019, Pope Francis confirmed the election of Archbishop Antony Kariyil as the archiepiscopal vicar of Ernakulam-Angamaly, responsible for day-to-day administration.
In March, India’s Supreme Court rejected an attempt by Alencherry to quash seven criminal cases against him relating to land deals. The ruling increased the likelihood of the cardinal facing trial over the cases.