Rev Fr Monsignor Paul Mattekkat, who has been appointed by Pope Francis as the bishop of Diphu (Assam), will be ordained to the position on Sunday by Archbishop Salvatore Penacchio, Apostolic Nuncio to India.
The notification, in connection with the appointment, was read out at the Vatican and the office of Apostolic Nuncio in Delhi on July 26.
Major Archbishop of Ernakulam-Angamaly Diocese Cardinal Mar George Alencherry will be the co-consecrator to the nucio at the function, along with Archbishop John Moolachira, Guwahati; Archbishop Dominic Jala, Shillong; and Archbishop Dominic Lumon, Imphal.
Over 25 bishops and archbishops and a group of clergy representing the North-East Bishop’s Council, apart from a large number of priests, sisters and laity from the surrounding missions, are expected to be at the function to be held at the Cathedral Ground at Diphu.
After the episcopal ordination, the bishop will preside over the concelebrated Holy Mass. A felicitation meeting will also be held at the ground after the Holy Mass.
Apart from bishops, clergy and laity, political leaders, including ministers, are expected to attend the public meeting.Other bishops to India appointed by the Pope on the same day are Fr Niranjan Singh of Cuttack-Bhubaneswar Archdiocese as Bishop of Sambalpur and Fr Kishore Kumar Kujur as the Bishop of Rourkela.
Msgr Mattekkat was born on June 1, 1961, as the youngest of the seven children of the late Paapu Poulose and Annam at Thuravoor, a village near Angamaly.
To represent Thuravoor, a large gathering of priests, nuns and laity will attend the function, said Rev Fr Mathew Edassery, parish priest of Thuravoor.