Syriac patriarch: Planned synodal meeting ‘unlawful’

Syriac Catholic Patriarch Ignatius Youssef III Younan said Monday that a meeting scheduled for Syriac bishops to vote on his removal is unlawful. The patriarch stated that because he had already issued a convocation for the Church's synod, the attempt by bishops to meet in Lebanon this week lacks legal authority.

A special meeting of the bishops is scheduled to begin Tuesday, September 29, after being called by the senior bishop of the Church following the patriarch. This represents the first attempt to use a new law issued by Pope Leo XIV last month, which allows governing synods in Eastern Catholic Churches to convene themselves and vote to remove patriarchal leaders.

Youssef noted that both the Code of Canons for the Eastern Churches and the recent law from Pope Leo XIV recognize the patriarch's right to be the first to call any synod meeting. On September 2, the patriarch invited the synod of bishops to a full meeting from November 17 to 20, following a proposal from the permanent synod made in Beirut on July 23. Two days later, bishops called for their own meeting to vote on his removal, a sequence Youssef claims makes the upcoming meeting illicit.