KOCHI: Fr William Nellikal, who has been in charge of the Malayalam section of Radio Vatican and Vatican News for the past 12 years, will retire on Sunday. He worked four years during the reign of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI and nearly eight years with Pope Francis. Fr Nellikal will be resuming the pastoral ministry with Archdiocese of Verapoly.
With acclaimed domain knowledge in liturgical music streams, Fr Nellikal contributed towards the transition of Vatican’s Malayalam broadcast media to digital media, including social media, with innovative audio-visual programmes. He served as secretary of media commission, Kerala Catholic Bishops’ Council (KCBC) for five years since 1997. Has was also the director of Cochin Arts and Communications (CAC), the cultural centre of the Archdiocese of Verapoly for six years since 2002, after which he was invited to the Vatican’s Dicastery for Communications in 2009.
Fr Nellikal’s notable contributions during his tenure in the Vatican include the musical rendition of the Book of Exodus, the musical version of the Book of Psalms as well as a biographical memoir, “Allyiyambal Kadavail”, of acclaimed music composer K V Job Master, besides other productions of news and programmes of the Pope and Vatican.