The senior-most leader of the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church Cardinal Mar George Alencherry suffered a massive setback when the Kerala High Court said on Thursday (12 August) asked him and a few others to stand trial in an alleged land scam, reports The Week.
This ruling comes in the wake of a massive financial scandal that also rocked the Mecca of Christendom, the Vatican where authorities unearthed hundreds of millions of financial misdealings by senior Vatican officials.
The apex court in Kerala also rejected all the six petitions submitted by Alencherry challenging the ruling by the lower court.
Before the case moved to the High Court, the lower court had passed the verdict asking Alencherry and others involved in the land deal to face trial and after this setback, the influential Alencherry approached the High Court seeking to quash the lower court verdict.
But what is most troubling for the Church is that these allegations have driven a wedge between the priests and the laity as a section of the people demanded that the Cardinal should step down from the post, as the issue had hurt the Church and even petitioned Pope Francis in this regard.
Recently, Mercy Senthil Kumar, the daughter-in-law of DMK minister I Periyasamy and wife of DMK MLA I.P. Senthil Kumar, has urged that a law be enacted requiring the Vatican Pope’s approval to arrest Christian pastors and sisters around the world.
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