Priests’ ejection sparks wild weekend in Syro-Malabar Church
CCTV footage of police removing protesting clergy provoked uproar.
One of the most dramatic weekends in the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church’s recent history began in the early hours of Saturday morning with police dragging 21 protesting priests out of the Major Archbishop’s House in India’s Archeparchy of Ernakulam-Angamaly.
CCTV footage shared on messaging apps Jan. 11 showed officers bundling white-clad clergy out of the building, which they had occupied days earlier in protest at disciplinary action against four priests accused of disobeying orders related to the introduction of a new “uniform” liturgy.
The footage showed some priests being carried out by their hands and feet by groups of four officers. One cleric appeared to be stripped of part of his clothing after it came loose as he was being carried.
Photographs later emerged of several priests receiving medical attention. One sat with a bandaged arm supported by a splint. Another lay shoeless on the ground with his head resting on a bag. A third sat as a medic checked his blood pressure. Some were later reportedly taken to hospital.
As the photos and CCTV footage were shared online, hundreds of lay people gathered in the street outside of the ornate gates of the Major Archbishop’s House as dozens of khaki-uniformed officers looked on warily.
At noon Rome time on Saturday, the Vatican announced a major leadership change in the Archeparchy of Ernakulam-Angamaly, the most populous diocese of the Syro-Malabar Church, which is the second-largest of the 23 Eastern Catholic Churches in full communion with the pope.
The archeparchy, which serves more than half a million Catholics, is the seat of the Syro-Malabar leader Major Archbishop Raphael Thattil, who coincidentally celebrated his first anniversary in the post Jan. 11. But the major archbishop is not responsible for the archeparchy’s day-to-day governance, which has been entrusted to apostolic administrators since July 2022.
The Holy See press office announced Jan. 11 that Pope Francis had accepted the resignation of apostolic administrator Bishop Bosco Puthur after barely a year in the post. A press release from the Syro-Malabar authorities said the 78-year-old had submitted his resignation in September 2024 for health reasons.
The Vatican also confirmed the appointment of Archbishop Joseph Pamplany of Tellicherry as the archepiscopal vicar of the Ernakulam-Angamaly archeparchy. The 55-year-old archbishop will continue to lead the Tellicherry archeparchy.
“With the resignation of the apostolic administrator accepted, the governance of the Archeparchy of Ernakulam-Angamaly has been entrusted to the Major Archbishop by the Apostolic See,” the major archiepiscopal chancellor Fr. Abraham Kavilpurayidathil said.
Slovak Archbishop Cyril Vasil, S.J., will continue serving as pontifical delegate for the archeparchy, a post he has held since July 2023.
The Ernakulam-Angamaly archeparchy was previously overseen by an archepiscopal vicar, Archbishop Antony Kariyil, from August 2019 until July 2022, when he resigned under Vatican pressure.
Relations between priests and ecclesiastical authorities in the Ernakulam-Angamaly archeparchy have been tense since 2017, when the archeparchy was hit by the so-called “land scam” scandal.
The scandal, which focused on real estate transactions that reputedly lost the archeparchy $10 million, prompted priests to demand the resignation of the then-Major Archbishop, Cardinal George Alencherry, who rejected allegations of wrongdoing.
In recent years, the archeparchy has become the front line in a battle over the Syro-Malabar Church’s uniform liturgy.
In the new uniform mode of the Eucharistic liturgy, the priest faces the people during the Liturgy of the Word, turns toward the altar (ad orientem) for the Liturgy of the Eucharist, and faces the people again after Communion.
In the Ernakulam-Angamaly archeparchy, most priests and lay people want clergy to continue celebrating the liturgy facing the people throughout (versus populum), arguing that it is more in line with the reforms of Vatican Council II.
Catholics in the archeparchy have expressed their opposition to the new liturgy through hunger strikes, boycotts, and the burning of cardinals in effigy, as well as burning letters from Church officials and turning them into paper boats.
Tensions were already mounting ahead of last weekend as the Syro-Malabar Synod of Bishops — the Eastern Church’s governing body — held its first meeting of the year.
As the bishops gathered, Fr. Joyce Kaithakottil, a priest of the archeparchy, launched a three-day hunger strike against “abuse of power” by Church authorities.
On Jan. 9, the day the protest fast ended, 21 priests carrying rucksacks with provisions entered the Major Archbishop’s House, where they sat around a table and held prayers.
In a Jan. 10 statement, the priests accused Bishop Puthur and the recently overhauled local curia of denying clergy access to the Major Archbishop’s House and its facilities. They said that clerics had previously moved freely in and out of the building.
The 21 priests demanded a meeting with Puthur, the lifting of disciplinary measures against four clergy, and the reversal of changes to the curia.
The Pillar understands that Church administrators filed a case against the 21 priests for trespassing.
Before dawn on Jan. 11, scores of police forcibly removed the clergy from the building, leaving them outside of the nearby St. Mary’s Cathedral Basilica, the Ernakulam-Angamaly archeparchy’s cathedral.
As news of the police action spread, lay people from across the archeparchy headed to the basilica. After a sizable crowd had gathered, the laity marched to the gate of Major Archbishop’s House and sought to pry it open, while police attempted to stop them.
When the gate was eventually forced open, priests entered the Major Archbishop’s House compound, but reportedly tried to dissuade lay people from following them to avoid further escalation.
Local media reported that the police later filed rioting and unlawful assembly charges against 20 priests and almost 200 lay people.
A group of priests and lay people congregated in the backyard of the Major Archbishop’s House, where they were watched by police. The lay people left as night fell Jan. 11, but the priests remained.
On the morning of Sunday, Jan. 12, the new archepiscopal vicar Archbishop Pamplany arrived, reportedly accompanied by Bishop Puthur and Major Archbishop Thattil, amid a significant police presence. Following his appointment, Pamplany underlined that the archeparchy would be required to accept the new liturgy.
The Ernakulam district collector — a civil servant who oversees the local administration — then intervened in the dispute. The collector, a non-Christian, spoke with the priests and an episcopal delegate, seeking to resolve what he perceived to be a law and order issue.
Following hours of direct talks between the protesting priests and Archbishop Pamplany, which lasted into the night, a tentative agreement emerged.
Both sides reportedly agreed that a new curia should be formed and the archeparchy’s frozen canonical bodies should be reinstated within a month. Police will withdraw from the Major Archbishop’s House by Jan. 20 and the building will be reopened for visitors.
After reaching the agreement, the priests ended their protest and returned to their parishes.
The police action against the 21 priests generated outrage among some Syro-Malabar Catholics living outside of India.
In a Dec. 12 statement, members of the Ernakulam-Angamaly archeparchy in Ireland deplored the “illegal assault and inhumane treatment of priests.”
“The attempt to physically oppress the faithful and clergy, disregarding their rights and dignity, is utterly unacceptable — not only within the Catholic Church but also in any civilized society,” the statement said.
“This incident raises serious questions about the credibility of the recently concluded synod on synodality in the Vatican.”
Im sure the bishop and authorities can rationalize it a thousand ways, but when a bishop calls the cops on his flock and priests, and violence results, he's lost and should not only immediately resign (which he seems to have done) but never given any pastoral authority over his own pets, let alone a flock or a diocese.
It takes a special brand of incompetence to let it get that far.
"CCTV footage shows protesting priests being carried out of the Major Archbishop’s House in Kochi, Kerala, in the early hours of Jan. 11, 2025."
*record scratch, freeze frame* Yup, that's me. You're probably wondering how I ended up in this situation.