Mar Remigiose Inchananiyil, Bishop of the Thamarassery diocese of the Syro-Malabar Church, has come under fire for constituting a religious court “reminiscent of the Inquisition in the Middle Ages” to try a Catholic priest who has been accused of sedition, insubordination, publicly taking a stand against the synod of bishops and preaching disobedience to the faithful in speeches and messages on social media.
The bishop’s order reeks of the Inquisition, a phase in the history of the Catholic Church of which the Church itself is now ashamed. Pope Paul II apologised for the cruelties under these medieval church courts in the Great Jubilee Year 2000, said a senior priest of the Syro-Malabar Church about the order issued on September 21 against Fr. Thomas, aka Aji, Puthiyaparambil.
The Catholic Laymen’s Association alleged that the bishop’s order challenged the Indian Constitution, the government and the judiciary. The religious court has been constituted under the canon law, a Vatican creation, said M.L. George Maliekal, secretary of the association.
Fr. Puthiyaparambil’s fault is that he pointed out “anti-Christian activities of the bishops of the Syro-Malabar Church and those who took orders from them.” The priest tried to reform the Church and give it a new life. Under the canon law, the bishop is a dictator. He is the rule-maker, rule-interpreter and executive, said the association.
Spokesman for the Almaya Munnettam, a laypeople’s group calling for more transparency in church administration in the Ernakulam-Angamaly archdiocese, recalled that historically, religious court such as the Inquisition misused its powers and committed excesses for which Pope John Paul II apologised.
The order constituting the religious court said preliminary investigations revealed the gravity of the offences and scandal caused by him.
