Cardinal Designate issues a message

(January 07.01.2012) Christian witness to the world is the most urgent need said Cardinal-designate George Alencherry. major archbishop of Ernakulam-Angamaly of the Syro –Malabar Church , since May 2011. He is the spiritual leader of 4 million faithful of the Syro-Malabar church in India, Gulf Countries, Europe, America. Interviewed by AsiaNews, a few hours after the publication of his appointment, he stresses: "The most urgent concern is that the message and the testimony of the Church's life is made more real in the world, according to the mind of Christ and the spirit of the Church". His appointment followed the death of Card. Varkey Vithayathil. The cardinal-designate was born in 1945, to a Catholic family in Kerala, the sixth of ten children. Two of his brothers are priests and one sister is a nun. Ordained a priest in November 1972, he attended the Sorbonne and graduated in catechesis at the Catholic Institute of Paris. On returning to India in 1986, he worked in the Catechetical Centre of Changanacherry and as a teacher at St Thomas Apostolic Seminary Vadavathoor. He was deputy secretary of the Kerala catholic Bishops’ Council and Director of the regional Pastoral Centre for six years John Paul II appointed him bishop of the diocese of New Thuckalay on 11 November 1996. The cardinal-designate speaks fluent Malayam, Tamil, English and French. To his credit he has also published many books and articles. The Syro-Malabar Church, dates back to St. Thomas the Apostle.