Rome Newsroom, Aug 10, 2023 / 03:23 am
Pope Francis has appointed Slovak Archbishop-Bishop Cyril Vasil’ to resolve a decades-long liturgical dispute in the Syro-Malabar Church in India.
Francis has directly intervened several times in the controversy, which centers on a debate about which direction the priest should face when celebrating the liturgy.
Vasil’, an expert on canon law of the Eastern Churches, has been given special faculties in the Archeparchy of Ernakulam-Angamaly to ensure “the implementation of the liturgical reform approved by the Synod of the Syro-Malabar Major Archdiocesan Church,” according to an Aug. 10 press release from the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Eastern Churches.
The archbishop’s mission began on Aug. 4, when he arrived in India, the release said.