Syro-Malankara Catholic Church Offers Solemn Tribute at the Funeral of Pope Francis

Vatican City – 26 April 2025

In the sacred stillness of St. Peter’s Basilica, as the Church universal gathered to bid farewell to His Holiness Pope Francis, the presence of the Syro-Malankara Catholic Church was a living testament to the rich tapestry of communion that the late Holy Father had so tenderly fostered.

Amid the mourning cardinals, bishops, and faithful from every corner of the world, His Eminent Beatitude Cardinal Moran Mor Baselios Cleemis Catholicos, Major Archbishop-Catholicos of the Syro-Malankara Catholic Church, stood in solemn prayer beside the coffin of the Pontiff who had embraced the East and the West alike with a shepherd’s heart.

In a moment that will remain etched into the memory of the faithful, Cardinal Cleemis joined the Eastern Catholic patriarchs, major archbishops, and metropolitans in approaching the simple wooden coffin of Pope Francis to offer an ancient and profound tribute — the chanting of the Greek hymn Christos Anesti, “Christ is Risen.”

The hymn, rooted in the Paschal tradition of the early Church, proclaimed in the ancient tongue:
“Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death.”

This act of faith, offered within the very heart of the Church at St. Peter’s Basilica, echoed with a resonance that transcended centuries and continents. It was not merely a hymn; it was a declaration — that even in sorrow, the Church sings of Resurrection.

The presence of His Eminent Beatitude was not solitary. Accompanying him were several Syro-Malankara Catholic priests, religious Sisters, and faithful who had journeyed to Rome to stand with the Church at this sacred hour. In prayer, chant, and silent witness, they carried the beating heart of the Malankara Church into the universal mourning, affirming the unity Pope Francis had laboured to build across rites and nations.

Back in Kerala, the motherland of the Syro-Malankara Church, incense rose from St. Mary’s Major Archbishop’s Cathedral, Pattom, in solemn prayer. The sacred presence of Cardinal Cleemis, joined by His Excellency Most Rev. Dr. Mathews Mor Polycarpos, Auxiliary Bishop of the Major Archieparchy of Trivandrum, and His Excellency Most Rev. Dr. Mathews Mor Pachomios, Bishop of the Eparchy of St. Ephrem – Khadki – Pune, gave profound expression to the communion of the Syro-Malankara Catholic Church with the See of Peter.

Priests, religious Sisters, seminarians, and faithful of all ages gathered within the hallowed walls of Pattom Cathedral, offering Holy Qurbono and the incense prayer for the repose of the soul of Pope Francis. The simple cut-out of the Holy Father placed outside the iconostasis spoke volumes — a gentle image of the shepherd whose voice had reached even the farthest peripheries.

The Syro-Malankara Catholic Church’s participation in Rome and Kerala was more than ceremonial. It was an act of love, an act of fidelity, an act of communion. It was a living witness to the Church that Pope Francis had described — a Church that bends down to wash feet, that crosses oceans to embrace the abandoned, that sings Christos Anesti even through tears.

In these gestures, the Syro-Malankara Catholic Church offered not only its prayers but its heart — a heart beating in rhythm with the sorrow and hope of the entire Catholic world.

As Pope Francis now rests under the gaze of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the Basilica of St. Mary Major, the Syro-Malankara Church remains united in prayer, gratitude, and fidelity. With the Church universal, we lift our eyes to heaven and pray:

“Dear Holy Father, pray for us. Bless the Church. Bless Rome. Bless the world you loved so well.”

In these acts, quiet yet profound, the Syro-Malankara Church bore faithful witness to the bond that ties the See of Peter to the Churches of the East: a bond of prayer, fidelity, and love.