Priests express satisfaction after talks with Archbishop Pamplany -OxBig News Network

Archbishop Joseph Pamplany, who was recently appointed vicar of the Major Archbishop of the Syro-Malabar Church of the Ernakulam-Angamaly Archdiocese, held another round of discussions with the 21 priests in the archdiocese who claimed that they were subjected to police atrocities on January 11 at the archbishop’s house in the city.

Senior priest Rajan Punnakkal, who was reportedly injured during the police action, told reporters at the end of the discussions that the new vicar had agreed to call off police protection for the archbishop’s house.

The priests had met Pamplany on January 12 to raise the demand, and the archbishop had promised to look into the matter. The assurance that police protection would be withdrawn to allow everyone to enter the archbishop’s house had boosted the priests’ confidence in the leadership of the new vicar, said Father Punnakkal.

He added that the priests wanted the Church authorities, including Archbishop Pamplany, to look into the CCTV recordings to assess the incident on January 11.

Father Punnakkal also said that the new vicar had promised to assess the confusion surrounding the administration of the St. Mary’s Basilica parish. He also promised the priests that there would be no parallel administration of the Basilica parish.

Meanwhile, the suspension of nine priests has been kept in abeyance. The issues involved would be discussed before a decision was taken, Father Punnakkal said.

The 21 priests, who are part of a larger group of rebels in the archdiocese against the Synod-prescribed Unified Mass, also said that they wanted Major Archbishop Raphael Thattil to be present at the next round of talks as Archbishop Pamplany could not take a final decision on his own.