Syro-Malabar Church slams ‘insulting’ posters on Thalassery Archbishop

Kochi: Even as a resolution reduced the clashes with regards to the Holy Mass row in the Ernakulam-Angamaly Archdiocese, disputes continued. The Syro-Malabar Church on Saturday night issued a statement after a group of laity activists allegedly pasted posters insulting Mar Joseph Pamplany, the Archbishop of Thalassery and the Metropolitan Vicar of the Ernakulam-Angamaly Archdiocese. The statement said that a certain group of people continued to display defamatory images of the Major Archbishop and Mar Pamplany outside St Mary's Cathedral Basilica in Ernakulam, and they also posted pictures of the prelates on the walls of the Archbishop's House and nearby areas. Recently, under the cover of night, Mar Pamplany's image was depicted in a derogatory manner on the wall of the Thalassery Archbishop's House. This was extremely deplorable, the statement said. It added that the actions of this group, which consistently maligned the Church, its leader and its bishops by spreading claims that Mar Pamplany was acting against the directives of the Pope and the Synod, were indeed anti-Church activities. It added that the unified Holy Mass could not be implemented in the Ernakulam-Angamaly Archdiocese as in other dioceses, so the Synod granted special permission to implement it gradually, prioritizing Church unity. Once this decision was implemented, the previously turbulent pastoral environment in the Archdiocese began to calm down. However, a group that opposed this special permission from the start occupied St Mary's Basilica in Ernakulam on Dec 10, 2025, and disrupted holy services by staying there day and night. "In a circular issued on Jan 10, following the first session of the 34th Synod held from Jan 6 to 10, the Synod Fathers urged everyone to accept the decision to gradually implement the unified Holy Mass offering in the special circumstances of the Ernakulam-Angamaly Archdiocese. They also called on all involved to abandon protest methods that did not align with Christian consciousness and to embrace the path of peace. Despite this appeal from the Synod, a group of people continued their protest," the statement said.