A Flourishing Church
Today the Syro-Malabar
Church has twenty five
dioceses with all indigenous
prelates. There are more than
six thousand five hundred
priests and thirty thousand
nuns. Nearly two thousand
seminarians are studying for
priesthood in different
seminaries. These numbers give
us hope for future, as regards
evangelization and pastoral
care are concerned.
Major Archiepiscopal
Church
On December 16, 1992 Pope John
Paul II declared the Syro-Malabar
Church as a Major
Archiepiscopal Church and
appointed Cardinal Antony
Padiyara as the first Major
Archbishop. Due to his poor
state of health the Pope had
appointed a delegate of him to
discharge the duties of the
Major Archbishop, in the
person of Archbishop Kattumana.
The papal delegate died
unexpectedly during.29 30 his
visit to Rome in April 1955.In
1966 Cardinal Padiyara
resigned from his office as
Major Archbishop. In his place
the Pope appointed Archbishop
Varkey Vithayathil as the
administrator. In December
1998 he was appointed Major
Archbishop. In February 2001
Major Archbishop Varkey
Vithayathil was created a
Cardinal by Pope John Paul II.
Today the Syro-Malabar church
has the power to take
decisions on liturgical
matters, and to appoint
bishops in the proper
territory, namely within the
boundaries of the
ecclesiastical provinces of
Ernakulam, Chenganacherry,
Trichur and Tellicherry.
According to the Oriental
canon Law the Major Archbishop
is the head of the Syro-Malabar
Church immediately under the
Pope. At present his authority
is limited to the dioceses
that are the suffragans of
Ernakulam, Chenganacherry,
Trichur and Tellicherry. The
Syro-Malabar dioceses in the
other parts of India and
abroad are directly under the
Pope. They are suffragans of
the nearest Latin
Archdioceses. According to the
Oriental Canon Law the Major
Archbishop of this Church has
the right to appoint new
bishops; these rights are yet
reserved to the Pope. |
