Vatican gives Syro-Malabar Church right to appoint its own bishops

Published: 2004-01-09

TRICHUR, India (CNS) -- A Vatican official said India's Syro-Malabar Church has been given the right to appoint its own bishops, paving the way for the church's full self-governing status. Cardinal Ignace Moussa I Daoud, a Syrian who heads the Vatican's Congregation for Eastern Churches, made the announcement Jan. 7 at the biennial assembly of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of India in Trichur. The announcement was considered an important step for the church in resolving a dispute over liturgy and administration. In 1992, Pope John Paul II made the Syro-Malabar Church a self-governing church and asked it to organize its own synod for administration. However, he reserved to the Vatican the power to decide on the Syro-Malabar Church's liturgy and the appointment of bishops. In 1998, the Vatican gave the church the right to decide on liturgy. Syro-Malabar Church officials hailed the decision on appointing bishops as an important milestone for the centuries-old church, which traces its origins back to St. Thomas the Apostle.

Copyright (c) 2004 Catholic News Service /U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The CNS news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed, including but not limited to such means as framing or any other digital copying or distribution method, in whole or in part without the prior written authority of Catholic News Service .