Do you wish to follow Christ and His Vicar, Roman Pontif? Pontifical Delegate Archbishop Cyril Vasil questions the dissident priests and laity of the Archepearchy of Ernakulam-Angamaly. Archbishop Vasil offered Holy Qurbana and proclaimed the word of God at Mount St. Thomas, Kakkanad on the occasion of the feast of the Assumption of Mother Mary and Independence Day of India.

Full text of the sermon is as follows:-

I am really happy today that I can celebrate the Holy Qurbana today in this church with you. Today we are in the midst of multiple celebrations, together with all the Christian Churches, we celebrate the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Furthermore, it is a time of immense joy for us, we celebrate the Independence Day of this great nation. We recall with gratitude, all those who contributed to achieving this freedom.

We can understand the significance of the Feast of the Assumption by considering the profound position and wholehearted obedience of the Blessed Virgin Mary towards God as she fearlessly declared her commitment without any reservations during the Annunciation. Assumption is the result of her complete self surrender to God. This sells as a clear and deep lesson for us today, highlighting our unbelieving ‘Yes’ to God is necessarily oriented to yield threw it in the most elegant manner. As someone deeply acquainted with the Syro-Malabar Church and Archeparchy of Ernakulam-Angamaly, I can affirm that both have frequently demonstrated their unwavering commitment to God through their mission adopting, disposition of prayer, patience, perseverance and generosity on numerous occasions. I assure you the God will abundantly bless you for that.

In my role as the papal delegate to the Archepearchy of Ernakulam-Angamaly, I can see a special connection between this great feast and the mission for which I have been sent here.

The Holy Father has been following for sometimes the situation in this Archepearchy with great concern. More than two years ago on the 9th of June 2021, the supreme legislative body of your church, the Synod of Bishops, which prepared the Raza Qurbana taxa obtained for this text including of course all its rubrics. The Apostolic See explicitly calls for the implementation of the uniform mode of celebration in the entire Syro-Malabar Church. The celebrant is to face the faithful from the bema during the Liturgy of the word and should turn towards the Altar in the same direction that the faithful are facing, for the Liturgy of the Eucharist. And once again, face the faithful during the cconcluding rites after the Holy Communion, This decision has been made approved and is therefore legitimate and cannot be further subject to endless discussions.

In this context, we shall remember that the Holy Father, Pope Francis was personally and in detail informed of the various objections and arguments that some people race towards this decision. He studied also the request for a special dispensation for a local liturgical variant for this Archeparchy. He was fully aware of what was happening here, especially the opposition against the synodal decisions and  the request to continue in the Archeparchy of Ernakulam-Angamaly, the way of celebrating the entire liturgy facing the congregation. This has not been introduced in this Arch-Eparchy, despite his letter of 3rd, July 2021, greeting the entire Syro-Malabar Church, stressing that Unity must prevail over conflict. He says I exhort all the clergy religious and lay faithful to proceed to a prompt implementation of the uniform mode of celebrating the Holy Qurbana for the greater good and unity of your church.

In his subsequent letter of 25th March 2022, especially addressed to the priests, religious and lay faithful of the Archeparchy of Ernakulam-Angamaly, renewing his request for prompt implementation, with sadness in his fatherly hurt.

You have chosen instead to continue to follow your particular liturgical form.  However, it is good that we ask the Faithful to question their behavior how they express dissent. How we accept even difficulties and humiliation how we take steps backwards? I realize that I am asking you to take a difficult and painful step, but I am certain that I will find in you examples of priests and faithful who are ready to listen to the voice of the Lord and to trust the Pope's advice and plea. Trusting in your fidelity and obedience and recalling, in particular the obligations assumed at the Priestly ordination, I invoke upon you the Lord's blessings.

This paternal voice of the Holy Father was not heard by many priests, and in many cases was even hidden from the light. Finally, the Holy Father decided to send to you,  dear priest, dear laborers, in the vineyard of the Lord, one of his personal delegates. With an explicit mandate to bring back to obedience those priests and Bishops who remain dissident as one can read in the decree of my appointment. The Pope has chosen this personal mission in the hope that the living voice and the mutual looking into each other's eyes will finally achieve a result.

So now dear priests, I stand here before you, I would like to ask each of you a simple question, that is part of my special mandate answer in your heart. Are you with the Holy Father? Do you wish to remain priests and members of the Catholic church and of your Syro-Malabar Church? Or do you wish to give preference to the voice of troublemakers who lead you towards this disobedience to the Holy Father and the legitimate pastors of your Syro-Malabar church and the Catholic Church. Do you want to continue celebrating Holy qurbana in an illegal manner? Or are you willing to celebrate it according to the rules laid down by the church. Do you prefer to listen to your Pope? Or do you prefer to listen in the name of the forced solidarity? Or because you have been intimidated by some priests who are leading you towards a de facto separation from the Catholic Church.

You allow yourselves to be intimidated by small groups of violent protesters, who fulfilled the plans of some dark Forces and come to disturb, or even prevent the Celebration of Qurbana. According to the synods decision, are you with the Pope or against him? Therefore, I ask you again in the hope that you will not close your ears to the voice of mine. Do you wish to remain Priests of the Catholic Church of the church, led by the Divine Master Jesus Christ who entrusted to Saint Peter and his successors, the right to untie and bind, to encourage the brethren in the faith to teach and to govern. Do you wish to follow Christ and his vicar on Earth, the Roman pontiff, or do you wish to follow other teachers, who are leading you away from the path of your Priestly promise? And to you lay faithful of the Archepearchy of Ernakulam-Angamaly, I ask the same question.

Are you ready to follow the Holy Father and the Catholic church? Or do you prefer to put your trust in some of your priests who want to cover their personal disobedience to the Holy Father, under your name? They basically abuse you, by inviting you to protest. They are trying to make you their own supporters with their teaching. And finally, are using you as an unwilling and often unwitting hostages in their sacrilegious rebellion. I am sure that many priests and laity have perhaps made their protests in good faith. Many are led down this path of pride believing that they are only exercising the right to dialogue and discussion believing that in existence will eventually be here through it. 

Honestly, I am telling you that only continued protests and rejection will cause great harm to the church. Or be a great scandal before those who observe us into spiritual damage that is the fluid or with this obedience to God's will. Do you really want to be responsible for the grave sin of such as this obedience. There can never be God's blessing on this obedience to his will, no matter how much you try to cover it up with Pious, phrases, and even prayers, they will never be God's blessing on illegal protests in rebellion. Before our guards, I beseech, you on my knees.

And I personally, ask forgiveness for anything of the part of anyone who may have given any reason for any real or supposed justification for this rebellion. Likewise on my knees, I also ask you to no longer participate in this sin against our Lord and Catholics, namely in the refusing to celebrate Holy Qurbana in the only legitimate way, the way approved by the Holy Father.

May the Blessed Mother on the Feast of her assumption into heaven, the woman who obeyed the Lord's call help you with her example, with here Fiat in promptly making the right decision. Amen.