Troubled Syro-Malabar Church to elect new leader
January 09, 2024
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CWN Editor's Note: The Synod of the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church gathered in Kakkanad, India on January 8 to elect a new Major Archbishop, to replace Cardinal George Alencherry, who resigned in December at the age of 78.
The election comes at a time when the Syro-Malabar Church is severely divided by a dispute over new liturgical rules, which have caused violent confrontations in the Archdiocese of Ernakulam-Angamaly, the see of the Major Archbishop who is the head of the Syro-Malabar Church. As the vote for his successor looms, the outgoing leader, Cardinal Alencherry, acknowledged “the shortcomings in my mission.”
With well over 4 million members, the Syro-Malabar Church, which is based in India, is the second-largest of the Eastern churches in communion with the Holy See. It is exceeded in size only by the Byzantine-rite Ukrainian Catholic Church, which boasts more than 5 million faithful.
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