Pope Francis has appointed the Auxiliary Bishop of Ranchi Theodore Mascarenhas as the Bishop of the Daltonganj diocese in Jharkhand and announced three new bishops for the dioceses of Kottapuram in Kerala state, Amravati in Maharashtra, and Gumla in Jharkhand.
Father Ambrose Puthenveettil (56 years) is the new Bishop of the Kottapuram diocese, Father Malcolm Sequeira (62) has been appointed as the bishop of Amravati, and Father Linus Pingal Ekka (61) as the Bishop of Gumla, according to Father Stephen Alathara, Deputy Secretary-General, Conference of Catholic Bishops in India (CCBI).
Bishop Mascarenhas of the Society of the Missionaries of St. Francis, Pilar, Goa, was born on November 9, 1960, in Camurlim, archdiocese of Goa. He went to St. Charles Seminary in Nagpur, Maharashtra, and the All-India Mission Seminary of the Society of Pilar, Goa. He holds a postgraduate degree in Political Science and a licensure and doctorate in sacred scripture from the Pontifical Biblical Institute, Rome. He was ordained a priest on April 24, 1988.
The 63-year-old held various pastoral roles, including coordinator of the works of the Society of Pilar in Rome, Superior delegate for the Society of the Missionaries of St. Francis Xavier in Europe, Official of the Pontifical Council for Culture, procurator general of the Society of St. Francis Xavier, member of the Pontifical Committee for the International Eucharistic Congresses, and lecturer in sacred scripture at the Pontifical Gregorian University and at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum), Rome.
At the age of 53, he was appointed auxiliary bishop of Ranchi on July 9, 2014, and his Episcopal ordination took place a month later. He served as the Secretary General of the CBCI from March 2016 to June 2019 and was also the Apostolic Administrator of Daltonganj. The 63-year-old currently chairs the CCBI Commission for Ecology.
Father Ambrose Puthenveettil, the youngest among the latest appointees, was born on August 21, 1967, in Palliport, in the Diocese of Kottapuram in southern Kerala state. He studied at St. Peter’s Pontifical Institute in Bangalore and at the Collegium Canisianum in Innsbruck, Austria. He obtained a licentiate in Pastoral Theology from the Leopold-Franzens-Universität in Innsbruck and a doctorate in Missiology from the Pontifical Urbaniana University in Rome. He was ordained a priest on June 11, 1995, for the said diocese.
Father Malcolm Sequeira was born on November 4, 1961, in Giriz, in Vasai diocese in western Maharashtra. He majored in Philosophy and Theology at St. Pius X College in Mumbai and was ordained a priest on April 13, 1996, for the Diocese of Poona, Maharashtra. He also holds a License in Social Communications from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome.
Father Linus Pingal Ekka was born on September 23, 1961, in Chainpur, in Gumla diocese in eastern Jharkhand state. After completing his post-graduation in India, he obtained a licentiate in philosophy and theology from the Pontifical Urbaniana University in Rome. He was ordained a priest on January 22, 1994, for the Gumla diocese. He holds a Doctorate in Canon Law from the Pontifical Urbaniana University.
