New head elected for Syro–Malankara Church

Archbishop Isaac Mar Cleemis of Tiruvalla, the youngest prelate of the Syro–Malankara Church, has been elected to head the Church has about 450,000 faithful, virtually all living in five eparchies (dioceses) in India.

The Syro–Malankara community, centered primarily in the western state of Kerela, has proved to be a major source of priestly and religious vocations; there are currently more than 600 seminarians, and over 2,000 women religious in 17 congregations.

The CBCI includes all bishops from India's three rites – Latin, Syro–Malankara and Syro–Malabar – which make up the Catholic Church in India. The Latin rite follows the Roman liturgy and was established by European missionaries in the 15th century, while the two Oriental rites, both based in Kerala, follow Syrian church traditions and trace their origins to St. Thomas the Apostle.

Formerly a faction of the Jacobite Church, an Orthodox group, the Syro–Malankara Church joined the Catholic fold in 1930 after the Holy See agreed to allow the faction to retain its practices and customs. In 2005, the late Pope John Paul II made it a sui juris (self–governing) major archiepiscopal church.

The appointment, February 10, follows the Vatican endorsement of its selection made during a conclave that resembled the papal election process.

The synod, the church's supreme body, comprises one retired and six active prelates.

Administrator Bishop Geevarghese Mar Divannasios of Bathery said that election process came to an end when the Vatican endorsed the synod's choice.

Archbishop Cleemis, 47, currently heads Tiruvalla Archdiocese. He is also the second vice president of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of India (CBCI). He was ordained a priest in 1986. Five years later, he was appointed the auxiliary bishop of Trivandrum Archdiocese. In 2003, he was appointed bishop of Tiruvalla that was raised an archdiocese in 2006.

The bishops elected him through secret ballot on February 8 and the administrator sent the result to the Vatican for endorsement.

The selection process began February 7 when the church ended a 21–day official mourning for its previous Major Archbishop Cyril Mar Baselios, who died of a heart attack on January 18.

During the election, the church procedure and tradition forbade bishops to contact anyone outside the synod. The prelates had to switch off their cell phones. The press was also kept away from the synod venue. The prelates came out of the venue only after the Vatican sent its endorsement.

The new leader will assume the title of Catholicos, in keeping with Orthodox tradition.

The appointment has been welcomed by the faithful.

"He loves both the church and the nation," Father Cherian Ramanalil, vicar general of Tiruvalla Archdiocese, said. "[Archbishop Cleemis is] a great team player" and can coordinate all sections of people to benefit the church, he said.

"Above all he has rapport with all religious communities and their leaders. He is open to new ideas and commands respect from all sections of people," the priest added.

Archbishop Cleemis later told reporters that on assuming office he would not adopt a sectarian approach, but would work for the unity of churches and amity of all religions.

The church would also cooperate with those who do not express their faith in God but work for social good and well–being, he said.

The church would adopt a path of open discussion and consensus on all important issues stretching from farmers' suicide to education, he added.