When receiving in audience a delegation led by the new Major Archbishop Raphael Thattil, the pontiff publicly expressed his assent to a request made for years by the Churches of the East, especially for their own faithful in the Persian Gulf. A new and harsh warning about the divisions around the liturgy in Kerala: “Discussing the details of the celebration while disrespecting unity is incompatible with the Christian faith.”
Vatican City () – Pope Francis has decided to grant the Syro-Malabar Church jurisdiction over Indian emigrants belonging to this rite who live in the Middle East. He announced it himself, this morning, in an audience granted in the Vatican to the new major archbishop, Mar Raphael Thattil, elected last January by the Synod of this ancient Church of the East that has its headquarters in Kerala, accompanied by a group of faithful. “I told his Beatitude to ask for jurisdiction over all his emigrants in so many parts of the Middle East,” the Pontiff said in his speech. “I told them that they had to request jurisdiction with the cards, but today I have already given the jurisdiction and with that they can act. They must also do it through the cards, but starting today they can.”
The request for jurisdiction over their faithful is an issue that the Eastern Catholic Churches have been raising for years for the hundreds of thousands of emigrants who live in the Persian Gulf, the face of a Church that is a mosaic of languages and rites, until now led by the two Apostolic Vicariates of Arabia, which are of the Latin rite. Already in the Synod for the Middle East in 2010, the issue arose strongly, but it clashed with the need to maintain unity between the different communities that in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Kuwait or Bahrain form a unique and unprecedented face of the migrant Church. Now, however, Pope Francis – who personally visited these communities in 2019 and 2022 – has decided to grant jurisdiction to the Syro-Malabar Church, which is one of the communities with the largest number of faithful in the Gulf.
Recalling that “Eastern traditions are indispensable treasures in the Church” and recalling the history of “witness to the point of martyrdom” that Christians inherited from the Apostle Thomas in India, the Pontiff added, explaining his choice: “I wish to help them, but without replacing them , precisely because the nature of their sui iuris Church empowers them not only to carefully examine the various situations, but also to take the appropriate measures to face the trials they go through with responsibility and evangelical courage, faithful to the guidance of the Major Archbishop and of the Synod. This is what the Church wants: outside of Peter, outside of the Major Archbishop it is not Ecclesia”.
These are words that must also be read in the light of the other great topic that Pope Francis wanted to return to in this morning’s meeting: the confrontation over the liturgy that has for some time painfully divided the Syro-Malabar Church, with the clergy and great part of the faithful of the archdiocese of Ernakulam-Angamaly who refuse to celebrate the Eucharist with the “unified rite” adopted almost three years ago by the local Synod. “Recently, I addressed letters and a video message to the faithful to warn them of the dangerous temptation of wanting to focus on a detail, which they do not want to give up, to the detriment of the common good of the Church,” the pontiff recalled. “It is the drift of self-referentiality, which leads to not feeling any reason other than our own. And it is here where the devil, the divider, insinuates himself, frustrating the most heartfelt desire that the Lord expressed before immolating himself for us: that we, his disciples, let us be ‘one’ (Jn 17:21), without dividing ourselves, without breaking communion. Preserving unity, therefore, is not a pious exhortation, but a duty, and it is especially so when it comes to priests who have. promised obedience and from whom the believing people expect an example of charity and meekness”.
“Let us work with determination to preserve communion – continued the Pope, addressing directly the Major Archbishop – and let us pray without tiring so that our brothers, tempted by the worldliness that leads to stagnation and division, realize that they are part of a family greater, who loves them and waits for them. Like the Father with the prodigal son, let us leave the doors open and the heart open so that, once they repent, it is not difficult for them to enter: let there be confrontation and discussion without fear – it is there. good-, but above all let us pray, so that, in the light of the Spirit, who harmonizes differences and redirects tensions to unity, conflicts are resolved. “Seriously disrespecting the Blessed Sacrament, the Sacrament of charity and unity, by discussing the celebratory details of that Eucharist which is the highest point of his adored presence among us,” he warned, “is incompatible with the Christian faith. The criterion guide, the truly spiritual one, the one that derives from the Holy Spirit, is communion: it means occurring in the adhesion to unity, in the faithful and humble, respectful and obedient custody of the gifts received”.
In particular, Pope Francis invited the Syro-Malabarians not to let themselves be “carried away by discouragement or the feeling of helplessness in the face of problems. Brothers and sisters,” he said, “let us not extinguish hope, let us not tire of being patient, let us not give up.” let us lock ourselves in prejudices that lead to animosity. Let us think about the great horizons of the mission that the Lord entrusts to us, the mission of being a sign of his loving presence in the world, let us not scandalize those who do not believe! decision, in the poor and the remote, in the peripheries, in those in India and in the diaspora, in the existential ones. Let us think of those who suffer and wait for signs of hope and consolation.
“I know that the life of many Christians in many places is difficult,” he continued, “but the Christian difference consists in responding to evil with good, in working tirelessly with all believers for the good of all people. Like the apostle Thomas, We look at the wounds of Jesus: they are still visible today on the bodies of so many hungry, thirsty and discarded people, in prisons, hospitals and along the streets, tenderly touching these brothers and sisters, we welcome the living God in our midst; Like Saint Thomas, we look at the wounds of Jesus and see how from those wounds, which had stunned the disciples and could have plunged them into irreparable guilt, the Lord made channels of forgiveness and mercy spring forth.
Finally, some special words were addressed by Pope Francis to the faithful of the Syro-Malabar community of Rome, present at the meeting: “From this Church, which presides over the universal communion of charity, you are called to pray and cooperate special way for unity within his Church, not only in Kerala, but throughout India and in the world. Let us pray that it continues to be so.
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