Indian cardinal recuperates after heart attack, angioplasty

(November 19, 2009) Cardinal Varkey Vithayathil, president of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of India and major archbishop of the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church, was recuperating after he suffered a massive heart attack and underwent emergency angioplasty. Cardinal Vithayathil, archbishop of Ernakulam-Angamaly, was taken off a ventilator at Cochin's Lisie Hospital November 18 and was eating light food. "It is a miracle that our cardinal survived," said Father Paul Thelakkat, spokesman for the Syro-Malabar Church, from Cochin. While on his way home after a meeting of the Syro-Malabar synod on November 16, Cardinal Vithayathil, 82, suffered a massive heart attack in his car. He was rushed to nearby Lisie Hospital, where doctors resuscitated him and performed the angioplasty, Father Paul Thelakkat said.