Kochi: The Ernakulam Central Police have registered two cases following the ruckus outside the Bishop House of the Angamaly-Ernakulam archdiocese, where a tense situation prevailed on Saturday over the long-pending dispute over unified holy mass. Twenty priests and nearly 200 members of the laity have been charged with unlawful assembly and rioting in the two FIRs registered late Saturday.

The FIR against 20 identifiable priests has been registered over a complaint filed by Manoj Chacko, the sub-inspector of the Ernakulam Central Police Station. As per the FIR, the accused priests pushed him down, causing a fracture to his rib and other injuries, and tore his official uniform while trying to remove them from the Bishop’s House.

The priests had been staging a prayer vigil on the compound seeking the removal of the archbishop curia following the disciplinary action taken against five priests for resisting the move to implement the uniform mode of holy mass in the archdiocese. The Bishop’s House witnessed high drama on Saturday as hundreds of laity activists and priests who are against the uniform mass system gathered there after visuals of the protesting priests being dragged out by the police were shared on social media.

The 20 priests have been charged under Sections 189(2) (relating to unlawful assemblies), 190 and 191 (2) (relating to rioting) and 121 (voluntarily causing hurt or grievous hurt to deter public servant from his duty) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS). The charges, if proven, could invite imprisonment upto five years.

In the second FIR, nearly 200 members of the Almaya Munnettam, a laity group which has been challenging the move to implement the uniformed mass system, have been 189(2) (relating to unlawful assemblies), 190 and 191 (2) (relating to rioting) and 285 (causing danger, obstruction or injury to any person in any public way) of BNS. The FIR has named four accused; Shaiju Antony, Riju Kanjookkaran, Prakash P John and Shaiju Mathew.

Police resorted to force on Saturday morning as the priests who were holding the prayer vigil refused to vacate the Bishop’s House compound. Laity supporting the protesting priests started thronging the compound after the police action. The police prevented the protesters from entering the premises of the Angamaly-Ernakulam archdiocese headquarters.

The believers got into a heated argument with and accused Ernakulam ACP C Jayakumar of saying that the government was against the Angamaly-Ernakulam archdiocese. The officer denied the allegations and said the accusations were being made to create news.

Amid the tensions in the archdiocese, Bishop Bosco Puthur resigned from the Office of Apostolic Administrator of the Archeparchy of Ernakulam-Angamaly. A statement issued by the Syro-Malabar Major Archiepiscopal Curia said Bishop Puthur had submitted his resignation in September 2024, citing health reasons, and Pope Francis approved it on Saturday.

Archbishop Mar Joseph Pamplany was appointed as the Vicar of the Major Archbishop for the Archeparchy of Ernakulam-Angamaly after his election to the post was confirmed by the Pope. With the resignation of the Apostolic Administrator being accepted, the governance of the Archeparchy of Ernakulam-Angamaly has been entrusted to the Major Archbishop by the Apostolic See, the statement said.

Meanwhile, the Syro-Malabar Church Synod has ordered disciplinary action against the protesting priests. The Synod of Bishops of the Syro-Malabar Church unanimously condemned the wrongful and "unchristian actions" of certain priests from the Ernakulam-Angamaly Archdiocese, who were on a hunger strike and occupying the archdiocese building in defiance of the decisions approved by the Pope, a release issued on Friday by Fr Antony Vadakekara V C, PRO of the Syro-Malabar Church had said.