Kerala priests up in arms against Cardinal

The protest against restoring the administrative power of Ernakulam-Angamaly Archdiocese in Kerala to Cardinal George Allencherry, who faced allegations regarding selling church's prime properties, has further escalated.

About 200 priests met in Kochi on Tuesday and demanded that an independent administrator be appointed for the Archdiocese and the decision of Pope Francis to restore administrative powers to the Cardinal should be revoked.

The priests also expressed strong protest against the decision to remove two auxiliary bishops, Mar Sebastian Adayanthrath and Mar Jose Puthenveettil, from their posts.

A resolution would be given to the permanent synod in this regard, the dissenting priests said.

George Allencherry's administrative powers were suspended last year following allegations that prime lands owned by the church were sold at throw-away prices.

Pope Francis restored the powers to the Cardinal last week.

The dissident priests said that they wanted to know the circumstances in which George Allencherry's powers were restored as the allegations against him were not yet proved false.