The Vatican has elevated Mar George Alencherry, the 66-year-old leader of Kerala’s Syro-Malabar Church, to a Cardinal. One of 22 newly named cardinals from around the world, the announcement of the Indian cardinal was made simultaneously at the Vatican and at the headquarters of the Syro Malabar Church in Kochi, Kerala. India gets its 11th cardinal. Alencherry, the Major Archbishop of the Ernakulam-Angamaly diocese would be enthroned a Cardinal by Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican Feb 18.
The Syro-Malabar Church is one of three churches in Kerala that owe their allegiance to the Pope and are part of the Roman Catholic Church. The other two are the Latin and Syro-Malankara churches. He was ordained a bishop in 1997 and last May was elected the Major Archbishop by his church. Alencherry will be the country’s youngest Cardinal. At present there are five Cardinals in India, of which four are above 80 years of age and hence do not have voting rights. Now, Alencherry would become the third Cardinal in the country and would be one among the 120 Cardinals who have voting rights to elect the Pope.
The 18 new cardinals under 80 are:- Santos Abril y Castello, (Spanish), Archpriest of the Basilica of St. Mary Major
- George Alencherry, (Indian), Major Archbishop of the Syro-Malabar Church in India
- Giuseppe Bertello, (Italian), President of the Government of the Vatican City State
- Giuseppe Bettori, (Italian), Archbishop of Florence
- João Braz de Aviz, (Brazil), Prefect of the Congregation for Religious
- Domenico Calcagno, (Italian), President of the Apostolic Patrimony of the Holy See
- Francesco Coccopalmerio, (Italian), President of the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts
- Thomas Collins, (Canadian), Archbishop of Toronto
- Timothy Dolan, (United States) Archbishop of New York
- Dominik Duka, (Czech), Archbishop of Prague
- Wim Eijk, (Dutch), Archbishop of Utrecht
- Fernando Filoni, (Italian), Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples
- Antonio Maria Veglio, (Italian), President of the Pontifical Council for Migrants and Refugees
- Manuel Monteiro de Castro, (Portuguese), Major Penitentiary of the Apostolic Penitentiary
- Edwin O'Brien, (United States), Grand Master of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre
- John Tong Hon, (Chinese), Bishop of Hong Kong
- Giuseppe Versaldi, (Italian), President of the Prefecture for the Economic Affairs of the Holy See
- Thomas Woelki, (German), Archbishop of Berlin
- Karl Becker (German), a priest and professor
- Prosper Grech, (Maltese), a priest and professor
- Lucian Muresan (Romania), an archbishop
- Julien Ries, (Belgian), a monsignor and professor