Cardinal Cleemis new CBCI President

Pala, India, 11 February 2014: Syro-Malankara Major Archbishop Cardinal Baselios Cleemis has been elected President of the Catholic Bishops Conference of India (CBCI) on Tuesday at its plenary meeting in the Southern Indian state of Kerala. Cardinal Cleemis is currently the vice-president of CBCI and also President of Kerala Catholic Bishops Council.
He replaces Cardinal Oswald Gracias, Archbishop of Bombay, who completed his four-year term as the President of CBCI.

The youngest Cardinal in the world-wide Catholic Church, Cardinal Celeemis has also been selected recently to the National Integration Council (NIC) which functions under the Chairmanship of the Prime Minister of India.

The biennial plenary of the Indian Catholic bishops that began on 5 February will conclude on Wednesday, 12 February.

The Plenary was opened by Vatican's envoy to India Archbishop Salvatore Pennacchio, calling for accelerated inter-church dialogues. He wanted the Church in India to strengthen the inter-faith and inter-church dialogues and emphasized the need to ensure that all sections of society benefited from its ministry.

Cardinals, archbishops and bishops from three Indian Catholic rites--Latin, Syro Malabar and Syro Malankara attend the 8-day meet.

The Plenary is discussing organisational, spiritual and social issues affecting the church in India.Source: Malayala Manorama + Agencies