Christianity in India received a major boost on Wednesday with Pope Benedict XVI naming Major Archbishop-Catholicos Baselios Mar Cleemis, who heads the relatively-young Syro-Malankara Catholic Church, as Cardinal.
Cleemis is the only Indian among the six senior prelates named cardinals in the latest expansion of the College of Cardinals which elects the Pope. With Cleemis’s appointment, the Syro-Malankara Catholic Church has got its first ‘Prince of the Church’- as cardinals are known - and their number in Kerala has risen to two. Cleemis, 53, is the youngest cardinal, or at least among the youngest, in the world as per available details, Church representatives here said.
The declaration was made simultaneously at the Vatican and Thiruvananthapuram, the headquarters of the Syro-Malankara Catholic Church, at Indian time 3.30 pm. The formal ordination will be held on November 24 in Rome, church representatives said. The Cardinal-designate will henceforth be known as ‘Baselios Cardinal Cleemis,’ they said.
Up till now, Kerala has had only one cardinal - in the heads of the Syro-Malabar Church, the current post being held by Mar George Alancherry. Although he is the first Cardinal from the Syro-Malankara Catholic rite, Cleemis is only the fifth Malayali to hold this post.
He follows Joseph Parekkatil, Antony Padiyara, Varkey Vithayathil and George Alancherry, all from the Syro-Malabar rite.
‘’It is a great honour and a recognition of his services and leadership,’’ Archbishop Thomas Mar Koorilos, the synod secretary of the Syro-Malankara Catholic Church, who read out the announcement in the St Mary’s Cathedral, Pattom, said. The announcement was accompanied by the pealing of the cathedral bells. The small crowd of clergy and faithful received the surprise announcement with cheers and by exploding crackers.
By elevating Mar Cleemis, who heads the relatively-young Syro-Malankara Catholic Church, the Vatican has stressed the importance it lays on the activities of the ‘Universal Church’ in India.