The news of his appointment as Cardinal came as a surprise to him, Major Archbishop-Catholicos of the Syro Malankara Catholic Church Baselios Mar Cleemis said on Wednesday. ‘’I was told only on Tuesday evening at 4.30. So it came as a surprise to me also,’’ he said over phone from Rome where he is attending the synod convened by Pope Benedict XVI. “I look at it as an honour to India as a country, its culture, the Church in India and the Syro-Malankara Catholic Church. It is a recognition of our tradition of living together in communal harmony. And it is a recognition to the Malankara Church as a whole,’’ he said. Cleemis will be back in Thiruvananthapuram on October 31.
