Syro Malankara Church Prepares To Elect New Major Archbishop

The Syro-Malankara Church, the youngest rite in the Catholic Church, has begun the process to elect its new major archbishop.

The official start came at 7 p.m. on Feb. 7, when the Church ended its 21-day mourning period for its previous head, Major Archbishop Cyril Mar Baselios. The prelate died at 6:45 p.m. on Jan. 18, at the age of 72.

As soon as the mourning period ended, the Syro-Malankara bishops´ synod, the Church´s supreme body, convened to elect the new catholicos. The synod comprises one retired and six active prelates.

According to Malankara practice, the synod can elect any of the bishops or a priest as its new head. Normally only a bishop is elected.

The election process started with prayer and a retreat that lasted 14 hours. Deliberations began at 10 a.m. on Feb. 8. Retired Syro-Malabar Archbishop Joseph Powathil of Changanacherry led the retreat, at the end of which the bishops offered special prayers at the tombs of the Church´s three previous heads, including Archbishop Baselios.

The synod venue is closed to the press. Church sources informed that they expect the synod to elect the new catholicos by Feb. 8 evening. But they said the Church would wait until Feb. 10, after the Vatican endorses the election, to announce the name.

According to the sources, the synod would inform the apostolic nuncio in New Delhi and the prefect of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches, based in Rome, of the result as soon as the election is over. Cardinal Ignace Moussa I Daoud, prefect of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches, would take the letter to the pope for his endorsement, the sources added.

They said the late prelate had not expressed his choice of a successor. “Whenever the senior bishops asked for his opinion, he used to tell them the synod would decide the major archbishop,” one source recalled.

Soon after Major Archbishop Baselios´ death, the synod elected Bishop Geevarghese Mar Divannasios of Bathery, the most senior prelate, as the Church´s administrator. He oversees the election of the new major archbishop.

Meanwhile, the synod elected Father Chacko Aerath as a bishop and new apostolic visitor in India for Church members outside its dioceses. The announcement came 150 minutes before the mourning period ended.

The bishop-elect is a member of the Order of the Imitation of Christ. He was ordained a priest in 1986.