The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI) elected this week as new president in the person of Archbishop Andrews Thazhath of the Syro-Malabar Church.
The CBCI brings together dioceses of all three rites — Latin, Syro-Malabar and Syro-Malankara. The top posts of the conference are shared among the Churches on rotation.
Archbishop Thazhath, 71, has led the local Church of Thrissur since 2007 and has recently been designated by Pope Francis as apostolic administrator of the Ernakulam-Angamaly archdiocese.
The prelate is an expert on the law of the Eastern Churches and has been vice president of CBCI.
The election was done at the St. John’s National Academy of Health Sciences in Bengaluru, on November 10, on the occasion of CBCI’s 35th general meeting.
Meanwhile, Archbishop George Antonysamy, Metropolitan Archbishop of Madras-Mylapore (Latin) was elected first vice president, and Bishop Mar Joseph Thomas, Bishop of the Eparchy of Batheri (Malankara) was elected as second vice president.
Archbishop Felix Machado, Bishop of Vasai, was reelected as secretary general.
Archbishop Thazhath was born in 1951 and was ordained priest for the Archdiocese of Trissur on March 14, 1977. He holds Bachelor’s Degree in Theology and a doctorate in Eastern Canon Law from the Pontifical Oriental Institute in Rome.
He was ordained auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Trissur on May 1, 2004, and was appointed as Archbishop of Trissur on January 22, 2007.
He was appointed by Pope Francis as one of the members of the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts in 2021.
