India's first Eucharistic miracle recognised in Vilakkannur

A celebration presided over by the apostolic nuncio in India has confirmed the supernatural nature of the appearance of the face of Christ on a host 12 years ago. A sign for the Syro-Malabar Church, which has long been wounded by the liturgical dispute. Abp. Girelli: ‘May the Eucharist be a sign of communion with God and of unity among the faithful, not of discord.’

Vilakkannur (AsiaNews) - With a solemn celebration presided over in Vilakkannur, in the Indian state of Kerala, by Apostolic Nuncio Monsignor Leopoldo Girelli, on 31 May the Catholic Church officially recognised as a Eucharistic miracle a prodigious event that took place 12 years ago in the local church of Christ the King.

On 13 November 2013, during a liturgy of this Syro-Malabar community, the local priest, Fr Thomas Pathickal, recognised the face of Christ imprinted on the host, testimony of his real presence. The local archdiocese then entrusted the study of the phenomenon to the Holy See, which in recent weeks has come to the conclusion that it was a supernatural phenomenon.

On Saturday 31 May, this news was celebrated in this community in the district of Kannur with a liturgy presided over by Monsignor Girelli in the presence of 10,000 faithful. The apostolic nuncio thanked God for the miracles that have demonstrated the presence of Christ in the Eucharist throughout history.

‘The risen Christ is present in his Church in many ways,’ he commented, ‘but in a special way through the sacrament of his body and blood.’

However, the Vatican representative also invited us to read this extraordinary event within the journey that the Syro-Malabar Church is experiencing, marked by the wound of divisions precisely around the Holy Quarbana, the Eucharistic celebration of this Eastern rite.

Since 2021, the decision of the local Synod to implement a uniform method for the celebration of the Eucharist, requiring that Mass be celebrated facing the people during the liturgy of the Word and facing the altar during the Eucharistic prayer, has created very strong tensions, especially in the Archdiocese of Ernakulam-Angamaly.

‘The miracle of Vilakkannur,’ Monsignor Girelli continued, "reminds the Syro-Malabar Church that the Holy Qurbana is a sign of communion with God and of unity among the faithful, and not of discord. How can we ignore that the tensions that still divide the clergy and the faithful of the Syro-Malabar Church are in contradiction with the Eucharist, the sacrament of unity? Christ in the Eucharist is the centre of Christian life. Therefore, the celebration of the Eucharist should not bring division.‘

The miracle of Vilakkannur, he added, is ’a great blessing not only for the Syro-Malabar Church" but for the entire Church in India. ‘It is my fervent hope,’ he added, ‘that this Church of Christ the King in Vilakkannur will become a place of reconciliation and unity for the Syro-Malabar Church and a centre of pilgrimage for Eucharistic adoration in India.’

Jose Kavi, editor-in-chief of the Indian Catholic website Matters India, commented to AsiaNews: "The small church in the village of Vilakkannur has found its place in the Church as the site of the first Eucharistic miracle in India. The recognition was a solemn ceremony, spared even by the rain despite the red alert that had been issued in the district of Kannur: a fact also described as prodigious by the Archbishop of Tellicherry, Joseph Pamplany. Some still dismiss what happened as a ploy by the archdiocese to raise funds. But most people truly believe that it was a miracle, because nothing is impossible for the Lord."