77-year-old Cardinal George Alencherry’s appearance in court sparks renewed call for him to resign
Indian Cardinal George Alencherry outside St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican on Feb. 18, 2012. (Photo: AFP)
Cardinal George Alencherry, head of the Eastern rite Syro-Malabar Church, has secured bail in a two-year-old court case that accused him of illegally selling some plots of land of a southern Indian archdiocese, prompting renewed calls for him to resign.
The 77-year-old cardinal was granted bail on Jan. 27 when he appeared before a magistrate court close to his residence in Kochi in Kerala state, which is the headquarters of the Syro-Malabar Church — the second largest eastern church in communion with the Holy See.
The case against the cardinal was registered following a complaint accusing the senior prelate — who was elevated to the rank of cardinal in February 2012 — of illegally selling some lands of Ernakulam-Angamaly archdiocese, as its archbishop.
His court appearance prompted the Archdiocese Movement for Transparency (ATM), a body of priests and laity in the archdiocese, to renew demands for the cardinal’s resignation.
Cardinal Alencherry had lost his moral right to continue in office after appearing in court as an accused, it said.
The high court in Kerala state and India’s top court had previously dismissed the cardinal’s petition seeking an exemption from having to appear in court to face trial.
“Fourteen criminal cases have been registered against Cardinal Alencherry” and therefore, “he should resign from office and face the cases,” Riju Kanjookaran, spokesman of ATM, told UCA News on Jan. 29.
The group has been demanding the cardinal’s resignation since his name first figured in the controversial land deal.
It accuses the cardinal of selling several plots of lands undervalued, without proper consultation with diocesan bodies, and without transparency. The deals have incurred an estimated loss of about US$10 million for the archdiocese, ATM leaders claim.
Kanjookaran previously appealed to the Vatican and the Synod of Bishops, the apex decision-making body of the Syro-Malabar Church, to initiate action against Cardinal Alencherry.
The cardinal, however, has denied the allegations but reportedly admitted before the Church’s synod that there were administrative lapses and a lack of oversight on his part.
After sustained public campaigns, the Vatican took away his administrative powers as archbishop of Ernakulam-Angamaly, and now the archdiocese is run by an apostolic administrator.
Cardinal Alencherry, however, still holds his title as the major archbishop of the Syro-Malabar Church with a population of more than half a million in India and abroad.
Father Antony Vadakkekara, spokesman of the Syro-Malabar Church, however, dismissed the demand for the cardinal to quit.
“Even those accusing him are not saying that he has gained any financial benefits in the deal other than certain failures in overseeing the deal,” Father Vadakkekara told UCA News on Jan. 30.
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