Eucharistic miracle calls for unity in Church: Nuncio
Jose Kavi - May 2025
Vilakkannur, May 31, 2025: Apostolic nuncio to India and Nepal Archbishop Leopoldo Girelli on May 31 called on the Syro-Malabar Church to view India’s first Eucharistic miracle as a signal to overcome its internal disputes and foster unity.
“How can one ignore the tensions that still divide the clergy and the faithful of the Syro-Malabar Church are contradictory to the Eucharistic, a Sacrament of unity?” Archbishop Girelli asked the ceremonies to install the Vatican recognized sacred host at Christ the King Church Vilakkannur, a rural parish under the Tellicherry archdiocese.
Addressing some 10,000 people, including scores of priests and nuns at the Syro-Malabar church, the nuncio said Christ bestowed the Eucharist to the Church “as a symbol of her unity and of charity with which we all Christians to be closely united with one another.”
Earlier, Archbishop Joseph Pamplany of Tellicherry declared as a Eucharistic miracle the appearance of Christ’s face on a consecrated host during Mass in the Vilakkannur church 12 years ago.
The Vatican ambassador said the Vilakkannur miracle reminds the Syro-Malabar Church that the Holy Qurbana is a sign of communion with God and of unity of the faithful, and not of discor-d.
The 72-year-old prelate was referring to a liturgical dispute that has troubled the Oriental Church for years. The dispute is not about theology or Church teachings, but rather, how the priest celebrates Mass. The Church’s bishops’ synod decided that the priest should face the altar during the Liturgy of the Eucharist, and face the congregation throughout the Liturgy of the Word, and after Communion.
The synod decision was rejected by most priests and faithful of the Ernakulam-Angamaly Archdiocese. They want to keep with the liturgical teachings of the Second Vatican Council, where the priest faces the people throughout the Mass.
The nuncio told the gathering at Vilakkannur that Christ “made the Eucharist as the center of Christian life. So, the celebration of the Eucharist should not lead to disunity.”
The Vilakkannur miracle, he said, is not only “a great blessing for the Syro-Malabar Church” but also for the entire Church in India. He said the Eucharistic miracle is a gift for the Eastern Rite Church that has shown its apostolic zeal and missionary vitality for decades.
The nuncio asserted that bishops are called to be attentive to “Sensus fidelium” (sense of the faithful) and priests and faithful must be obedient to bishops in order not to forgo unity for a particular reason.
The nuncio spoke in English with an Italian accent and without a translation to the gathering, majority whom only knew Malayalam, the local language.
Prior to the declaration of the Eucharistic miracle at 2:30 pm, the consecrated host was received at Oduvallithattu junction and taken in a procession, accompanied by vehicles carrying papal flags, to Vilakkannur, two km away.
The host was installed on a specially-designed pedestal in a hall near the church.
The phenomenon occurred during the morning Mass celebrated by the then parish priest Father Thomas Pathickal in the octagonal-shaped church that can seat around 500 people.
On that day, Father Pathickal told Matters India that at the time of elevation he had noticed a spot on the large bread used for consecration. “It became larger and brighter and a face appeared soon.”
The priest said he had kept the host aside and continued Mass using another host kept in the tabernacle.
After the Mass he showed the Host to the sacristan, who told him that it was the face of Jesus. After the Mass, the priest placed the host in a monstrance and kept it on the altar for adoration.
Father Pathickal said the shining face was still seen when he locked the host inside the tabernacle around 11 am as instructed by the then Archbishop George Valiamattam.
The priest had also said the phenomenon occurred as the parish had been preparing for the Christ the King feast on November 24, 2013.
As the news of the miracle spread, thousands of people flocked to the church, some 50 km east of Kannur town.
Established in 1962, the Vilakkannur parish has more than 500 families and 1,250 Catholics, most of them second and third generation of people who had migrated there from central Kerala last century.
Courtsey: mattersindia.com)
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