Do Bishops Have Power To Alienate Church Assets? Catholic Dioceses Move Supreme Court Against Kerala High Court Remarks

Two Catholic Dioceses from Kerala have approached the Supreme Court against a judgment of the Kerala High Court which held that Bishops have no power to alienate the church assets and that their powers are confined to religious and spiritual matters.The Catholic Diocese of Thamarassery and Eparchy of Bathery have filed the Special Leave Petitions challenging the remarks made a single bench of. Two Catholic Dioceses from Kerala have approached the Supreme Court against a judgment of the Kerala High Court which held that Bishops have no power to alienate the church assets and that their powers are confined to religious and spiritual matters. The Catholic Diocese of Thamarassery and Eparchy of Bathery have filed the Special Leave Petitions challenging the remarks made a single bench of the Kerala High Court in the judgment delivered in August 2021 which refused to quash the criminal cases against Cardinal Mar George Alencherry over the sale of properties belonging to Ernakulam-Angamalay Archdiocese. The Kerala High Court, in its judgment delivered on August 12, 2021, observed that "the religious supremacy vested with the Bishop or apostolic succession should be understood confined to religious matters both temporal and spiritual governed by ecclesiastical law viz., the Canon law".