The sensational multi-crore land scam rocking the Ernakulam-Angamaly Archdiocese of the highly influential Kerala-based Syro-Malabar Catholic Church in which its head, Major Archbishop Cardinal Mar George Alencherry, is allegedly involved has triggered an open war in the Church between the sections in the clergy and laity opposing and supporting the Cardinal.

The war had till the other day been confined to the interiors of the Church edifices in Kochi since the eruption of the scam three months ago but it has now spilled into the streets with both sides holding marches to and dharnas at the diocesan headquarters even as the Cardinal himself is searching for ways to avoid a police probe the High Court has ordered against him.

Majority of the priests under the Archdiocese and a large section of its laity are asking the Major Archbishop to step down for causing huge financial losses to it through fraudulent sale of the diocese’s land while the other side is accusing the Cardinal’s critics of hatching a conspiracy to dethrone and defame him over a land deal in which he had done nothing wrong.

Sunday saw those supporting the Cardinal holding a prayer meeting and dharna to declare solidarity with him in front of the diocesan headquarters in Kochi to where over 200 Syro-Malabar Catholic priests had taken out a demonstration on Friday demanding legal and Papal action against Mar Alencherry.

A senior priest with the Church, who claimed to hold a neutral view in the matter, aired the fear that the war that was happening at the level of the clergy and influential sections of the laity now could percolate to the lower level levels soon. “I fear that this can lead to physical confrontation among the believers if this war percolates to the level of the parishes,” he said.

The issue pertains to the sale of over three acres of prime land belonging to the Archdiocese for mobilising funds to repay a hefty bank loan availed for a now-aborted medical college project. The prime land was sold through a middleman, Saju Varghese, allegedly for less than one-thirds of the price it could fetch, causing losses to the tune of crores of rupees to the diocese.

The Cardinal himself had signed all the sale documents and the charge against him is that he had carried out the deal without proper discussions in and clearance from the concerned Church forums. A commission appointed by the Church to look into the scam had found that there had been lapses from the part of the Cardinal in the land deal.

Making matters worse for the Cardinal, who has not so far shown any sign of relenting, and his supporters, Justice B Kemal Pasha of the Kerala High Court on March 6 ordered a police probe against him, Archdiocese’s finance officer Fr Joshi Puthuva, Vicar General Monsignor Sebastian Vadakkumpadam and Saju Varghese, the middleman who facilitated the land sale.

According to Fr Kuriakose Mundadan, secretary of the Archdiocese’s Presbytery Council, the land deal had brought a loss of Rs 50 crore to the diocese. “The Church has not faced such a crisis so far. The Cardinal has not shown the readiness to speak the truth so far. No solution is in sight for the problem that had erupted in September,” he told the media the other day.

Those who are demanding action against the Major Archbishop claim that almost 90 per cent of the priests under the Archdiocese are with them. However, Cardinal’s supporters have now come out with some extremely serious charges against his ‘detractors’ including that the land scam is part of a huge conspiracy hatched by them to remove the Cardinal.

The problem is so intense that even the efforts of the Kerala Catholic Bishops’ Council, the umbrella forum of all the Bishops of the three rites of the Kerala Catholic Church in the State failed to find a settlement. Council head Archbishop M Soosapakyam of the Latin Catholic Church said a solution was to be found by the Synod of the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church itself.

Meanwhile, reports accused the CPI(M)-led LDF Government of instructing the police not to register FIR against Mar Alencherry and others as per the March 6 order of the single-judge bench of the High Court. It is said that the police had been told to go slow on the case so that the Cardinal got enough time to file an appeal.

Mar Alencherry is expected to file the appeal in a division bench of the High Court on Monday.

Also, Shine Varghese of Cherthala, Alappuzha, on whose petition the court had ordered the probe, may file contempt petition against the police for its failure to register case against the Cardinal and others.