Syro-Malankara Church head elevated as Cardinal

The head of the Syro-Malankara Church Major Archbishop Mar Baselios Cleemis was Wednesday declared a Cardinal by Pope Benedict XVI.

The declaration was made at the Vatican as well as the headquarters of the Syro-Malankara Catholic Church at Pattom, Trivandrum.

Pope Benedict XVI will ordain Mar Cleemis as Cardinal on November 24 at Vatican.

Mar Cleemis, 53, will be one of the youngest Cardinals of the entire Catholic Church. He is the first to be made Cardinal from the Malankara Church, one of the three Catholic rites in Kerala.

Pope Benedict XVI had ordained Major Archbishop Mar George Alencherry of the Syro-Malabar Church as Cardinal in February last.

"I consider my elevation as Cardinal as a big recognition and honour for India and Kerala. It also calls for greater dedication from my side and the Malankara Catholic Church to serve the Church and the society," Mar Cleemis told the media.

Mar Cleemis was consecrated as Bishop of Thiruvalla in 2003 and was elevated as Major Archbishop of the Syro-Malankara Church in 2007.

Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy has termed Mar Cleemis' elevation as Cardinal an honour for the Indian Church.

Besides Mar Cleemis, the Pope had named five other new cardinals on Wednesday. All six are under 80 years old and thus entitled to vote in a forthcoming conclave.

The new cardinals include Lebanon's Maronite Patriarch Bechara Rai; Archbishop James Harvey (US), prefect of the papal household; Nigerian Archbishop John Olorunfemi Onaiyekan of Abuja; Colombian Archbishop Ruben Salazar Gomez of Bogota; and Philippine Archbishop Luis Tagle of Manila.