Law of church above law of land: Cardinal George Alencherry

KOCHI: Cardinal George Alencherry, who is at the centre of the controversial land deals of the Ernakulam-Angamaly archdiocese, has said the legal system of the country should not interfere in the Canon laws.   Speaking after the Good Friday Mass at the Kokkamangalam St. Thomas Church in  Alappuzha,   Cardinal Alenchery, Major Archbishop of the Syro-Malabar Church,  said it was the “duty of the citizen to obey the rule of law existing in the country, but more importance should be given to the divine law”.

“No one should think divine justice could be measured with the legal system of the country. It is wrong. Even in the Church,  such tendencies prevail. There are persons in the Church thinking that they could control it  through court verdicts,” he  said.        The cardinal’s comments came even as the Supreme Court had recently observed that the charges against the cardinal were of a very serious nature.  It made  the remarks  while declining to vacate the stay granted by the division bench of Kerala High Court in initiating an FIR against the cardinal and two other priests in connection with the land deals.