Ernakulam Priests Go on Indefinite Hunger Strike Against Cardinal Alencherry Over Church Land Row

On Thursday, priests of the Syro-Malabar Archdiocese of Ernakulam-Angamaly launched a hunger strike against Major Archbishop and Cardinal George Alencherry, and demanded his resignation. Representatives of priests held talks with the cardinal on various issues pertaining to the archdiocese including controversial land deals allegedly involving the top priest. They, however, were not satisfied with the cardinal's response and declared an indefinite fast at the Bishop's House.

Alencherry is a Syro-Malabar major archbishop. He was ordained as cardinal by Pope Benedict XVI at a ceremony at the imposing St Peter's Basilica in Vatican. With this, the head of the Kerala-based Syro-Malabar Church — India's largest and richest Catholic church with 3.7 million members — joined an elite group of 213 cardinals that elects the next successor to the 84 year-old pope.

A report by The Hindu said that “the demands of the priests relate to police investigations into the ‘forged documents’ case in which it has been alleged that a group of priests forged documents with the help of lay persons to implicate the cardinal in a series of personal financial deals with a private company”. Two other priests Father Paul Thelakkat and Father Antony Kallookkaran were questioned in the case by the police.