Bombay’s Cardinal Gracias elected CBCI President

(March,02,2010): Cardinal Oswald Gracias, Archbishop of Bombay has been elected the president of the Catholic Bishops Conference of India, CBCI. The election took place on Monday at the 29^th General body meeting of the CBCI in Guwahati, Assam. CBCI’s newly elected president said he would strive to make the Church outward-looking, serving people of all religions in the country. “There is a belief that the Church in India is inward looking, as it keeps aloof from mainstream society,” the 65-year old cardinal told UCA News after the elections. The head the world’s fourth largest bishops’ conference said he sees the new post as an opportunity to lead the Church along with other bishops. “We want to make the Church more vibrant and responsive to various issues confronting the nation” he added.
Another priority for the new leader is to foster better cooperation among bishops of all three ritual Churches in India, the Latin-rite, the Syro Malabar and the Syro Malankara churches. Cardinal Gracias said the current efforts to reorganise the conference will help CBCI to become the face of the Church in India. The prelate said he was involved in the reorganisation of CBCI since 1987, when the pope allowed the ritual churches to have their own separate bishops conferences. “The reorganisation,” he explained “is a logical necessity in the new reality of the ritual churches taking responsibilities for their people. The new setup allows the CBCI to respond better to national issues and deal with the country’s government, which was not possible in the old structure. Cardinal Gracias said the bishops’ conference has to protect the interests of the Church and develop right relations with other religions.
Major Archbishop Moran Mar Baselios Cleemis Thottunkal, Head of the Syro Malankara Church, was elected the first vice president and Bishop George Punnakottil of Kothamangalam of Syro Malabar rite, the second vice president.