Unified Mass row in Syro-Malabar Church: Tension at Archbishop’s house

Police remove protesting priests from Archbishop's house, triggering loud protests; rebels called for talks to end standoff.

The police intervened early hours of Saturday (January 11, 2025) to forcefully remove priests who were on a protest occupation of the Archbishops house of the Syro-Malabar archdiocese of the Ernakulam Angamaly in Kochi city triggering loud protest from the rebel group opposed to the unified Mass.

Reports said that Ernakulam District Collector N.S.K Umesh has called the rebels for a talk to end the standoff.

The rebels occupied the bishops house protesting against the unified Mass on Thursday (January 9, 2025).

The stand-off between the rival factions had escalated after they clashed outside the Archbishop’s house late on Thursday (January 9, 2025). A video of the clash and the intervention by police to disperse them emerged on Friday (January 10, 2025).

The clash erupted after 21 priests had joined a fast at the Archbishop’s house following little response from the hierarchs despite a hunger fast staged by a priest at Angamaly demanding an end to “cruelty” by apostolic administrator Bosco Puthur and the dismissal of the newly-constituted curia of the archdiocese earlier in the day.

The rebel group, under the Almaya Munnettam and the Athiroopatha Samrakshana Samithi which are keen to maintain the tradition of people-facing Mass, is opposed to observing unified Mass in churches under the archdiocese.