Delegate declares deadline in Syro-Malabar dispute, promises penalties

The pope's delegate to a liturgical dispute in India has said that penalties, including excommunication, could be soon issued for clerics not following papal directives.

Syro-Malabar Catholic priests could face ecclesiastical sanctions if they don’t begin observing approved liturgical norms on Sunday, according to an Aug. 17 letter from the archbishop appointed to resolve a tense liturgical crisis in India.

But one priest in the Syro-Malabar Church has said that a liturgical decision from the church’s synod is “non-ethi…