Mar George Alanchery, Major Archbishop of the Syro-Malabar Church, has been named Cardinal by Pope Benedict XVI.

                                                               Mar George Alanchery

Pope Benedict XVI on Friday named 22 new cardinals, who form an elite group of top advisers to the papacy. While most of the names are Italians holding major Vatican positions, the head of the Kochi-based Syro Malabar Roman Catholic Church, Major Archbishop George Alanchery, is among the new appointees.

The 66-year-old is the 10th Indian Bishop and the fourth from Kerala to be elevated as cardinal. What is significant about Alanchery’s appointment is that he would be eligible to take part in the cardinals’ conclave that elects the next Pope. The Syro-Malabar Church is one of the 22 eastern churches under the Vatican.

The Pope is elected from among the constituency of cardinals and only those below the age of 80 have voting rights. Although the country has six cardinals, only three of them including Alanchery are below the age of 80.

The new cardinals will be formally elevated at a February 18 ceremony in Rome.

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Mar George Alanchery, Major Archbishop of the Syro-Malabar Church, has been named Cardinal by Pope Benedict XVI. Investiture will take place at Vatican on February 18. His elevation was announced simultaneously at Vatican and the Syro-Malabar Church headquarters at Kakkanad, Kochi on Friday.

Mar Alanchery is the fourth Keralite and tenth Indian to reach the position of Cardinal of the Catholic Church. Presently, there are six Cardinals from India. He was elected as Major Archbishop of the Syro-Malabar Church on May 26, 2010 following the death of Cardinal Mar Varkey Vithayathil on April 1.

He is the third Major Arch-Bishop of the Syro-Malabar Church and the sixth head of the Ernakulam-Angamaly Archdiocese. He would now become a member of the council to elect the Pope. The Syro-Malabar Church is one of the three churches in Kerala that owe allegiance to the Pope and are part of the Roman Catholic Church.

Mar Alanchery said he viewed his elevation to the position of Cardinal as a recognition given to the Syro-Malabar Church. “I accept each position with full sense of responsibility. I would try to lead the people through the path of truth and virtue,” the Major Archbishop said.

A native of Thiruthi near Changanassery in Kottayam district, Mar Alanchery was born on April 19, 1945. After school education and the seminary years, he was ordained priest on December 18, 1972. He had taken his bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Kerala with second rank and post-graduate degree in theology with first rank.

Mar Alanchery had served with the Changanassery Archdiocese from 1976 to 1978 as director of its religious school and as secretary of the Kerala Catholic Bishops’ Council. He had also served as the Vicar General of the Changanassery Archdiocese. In February, 1997, he took charge as the first Bishop of the Thakkala Diocese, which was constituted in 1996.