KOCHI: “You are my professor, you have taught me many things about India,” Archbishop Daniel Acharuparambil received this great compliment from none other than Pope John Paul-II, one of the most popular Popes of the Catholic Church.
It was Fr Daniel, who was deputed to edify the Pope on Indian languages and culture as a prelude to his visit to India in 1986. Fr Daniel got the rare opportunity to dinner with Pope four times.
He was then the Dean of the Pontifical University of Urbaniana (PUU), Rome.
Archbishop Acharuparambil, who always had a passion for Indian Philosophy, went into the depths of Indian Philosophy, and analysed it in a Christian view.
He secured Licentiate in Philosophy from the Pontifical Athenaeum, Pune, and secured PG in Indian Philosophy from the Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi. He passed out with a gold medal. He secured PhD from the Pontifical University of St Thomas Aquinas, Rome, in 1978 on a thesis on Indian philosopher Aurobindo Ghose.
The Archbishop dedicated the vibrant period of his life to teaching and research in Indian philosophy.
He started teaching Indian Philosophy at the PUU in 1972. In 1986, he became the Dean of the Faculty of Missiology at the PUU and served there from 1988 to 1994. He was then appointed Rector Magnificus of the PUU. Fr Daniel was the first non-European to be appointed to the post which is an equivalent to a University Vice- Chancellor. He continued in the post for six years.
An expert in Italian language, the Archbishop has authored four books - three in Italian and one in English. ‘The Destiny of Man in the Revolutionary Thought of Aurobindo’, Induisom: Vita e Penseiro (Hinduism: Life and Philosophy), Induisom: Eterna ricerca della verita (Hinduism: In Pursuit of Sanathana Truth) and Spiritualita e mistica indu (Hindu Mysticism and Spirituality).
He has also authored 48 research papers.
He was a consulter of the Pontifical Council for Inter-religious Dialogue for five years since 1990 and was also the consulter of the Congregation for Evangelisation of the Peoples. The Archbishop had been the president of the Kerala Region Latin Catholic Bishops Council (KRLCBC) since its formation in 1997.
