Cardinal Varkey Vithayathil
Posted on 04/02/2011 8:54:12 AM PDT by NYer
Cardinal Varkey Vithayathil
Cardinal Varkey Vithayathil, the head of India’s autonomous Syro-Malabar Catholic Church, died in Kochi, India on April 1 of heart disease.
The 84-year-old cardinal, who had cut back on his public activities after surviving a serious heart attack in 2009, suffered another attack soon after celebrating Mass in is private chapel. He was rushed to a nearby hospital, but died soon thereafter.
A Redemptorist priest, then-Father Varkey Vithayathil was named apostolic administrator of Ernakulum, the primatial see of the Syro-Malabar Church, in 1996, upon the retirement of Cardinal Antony Padiyara. In 1999 he was formally named as the Major Archbishop of the Ernakulum, the head of the Syro-Malabar Church that traces its origins to St. Thomas the Apostle, who brought the Christian faith to India’s coast. He was elevated to the College of Cardinals by Pope John Paul II in 2001.
The Syro-Malabar Church, geographically centered in India’s southwestern Kerela state, claims about 3.6 million faithful. The Syro-Malabar Church has shown considerable vigor in recent years, producing a large number of vocations to the priesthood and especially to religious life.
Pope Benedict XVI sent a message of condolence to the Church in India on the death of the cardinal, saying: “I recall with gratitude the cardinal's dedication and service to the Syro-Malabars and to the universal Church.”
“In the passing away of Varkey Cardinal Vithayathil, the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church and the entire Catholic Church in India lost a deeply committed and ever courageous spiritual leader,” said the Catholic Bishops Conference of India.
The funeral for Cardinal Vithayathil will be delayed until April 10, because most of the bishops of the Syro-Malabar Church were in Rome at the time of his death, making their ad limina visits. The cardinal had been unable to make the trip because of his precarious health.
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Catholic ping!
This thread has been up for a half hour. Are the antiCatholics sleeping in? Or are they out gathering party supplies and joyous participants, as they did for the Pakistani Catholic cabinet minister when he was assassinated?
Or maybe the Religion Moderator WARN the antiCatholic posters to quit the attacks or the posts will be removed or something to that effect.
May he rest in peace. I have a new seminarian in India, but I don’t know with which rite he is associated, and I haven’t looked up his location on the map.
RIP.
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