Cardinal George Alencherry, Major Archbishop and head of the Syro-Malabar Church, said here that the process of solving the issues facing the Ernakulam-Angamaly Archdiocese had begun. He said the Vatican had taken a very important decision in that regard. He was referring to the appointment of Archbishop Andrews Thazhath as the apostolic administrator of the Ernakulam-Angamaly Archdiocese in place of Archbishop Antony Kariyil.
The decision to appoint Archbishop Thazhath was announced on Saturday. The communication of the new appointment was made by Apostolic Nuncio Archbishop Leopoldo Girelli. Archbishop Andrews Thazhath will continue as the Metropolitan Archbishop of Thrissur while also performing the functions of the apostolic administrator.
The Apostolic Nuncio had met Archbishop Kariyil in Kochi last week. It was rumoured that the Nuncio had asked the Archbishop to step down from his position as the apostolic administrator of the archdiocese. These developments revolve around a decision by the Synod of Bishops of the Syro-Malabar Church in August last year to implement a uniform system of Mass celebration in which the celebrant or the priest faced the congregation for half of the ceremonies and then the celebrant faced away from the congregation for the rest of the ceremonies. However, a group of priests and laity in the archdiocese had insisted that they be allowed to continue with the system of Mass in which the celebrant faced the congregation throughout the Mass.
Cardinal Alencherry also expressed the hope that the State government would intervene in the issue of creating a one-km buffer zone around reserve forest areas in Kerala.
