By Matters India Reporter
Mumbai: Pope Francis has appointed Cardinal Oswald Gracias to the Catholic Church’s highest appellate tribunal.
The Archdiocese of Bombay’s website on February 21 announced that the Pope appointed Cardinal Gracias to the Roman Rota.
According to the Holy See Press Office, the appointment was made a week earlier.
Roman Rota, the Catholic Church has a complete legal system, is oldest in the West. It was established in the 13th century. The court got its name Rota (wheel) because the judges originally met in a round room to hear cases.
The Rota consists ordinarily of ten judges titled “Auditors.” They are of equal status and authority, and the senior, or Dean, as he is called, obtains precedence, but no jurisdiction, over the other judges.
The Pope personally appoints the judges. Only priests with doctorate in canon and civil law and known for their moral integrity, prudence, and legal skill are appointed auditors.
The Rota helps the Pope to discharge his duties as the head of the Catholic Church. The government is covered by three sections: the administrative, the executive and the judicial. The Rota belongs to the judicial section. Its sole function is to hear and decide, according to the law, cases submitted to it.
Cardinal Gracias, archbishop of Bombay, was born on October 24, 1944. After completing his school studies at St Michael’s School in Mahim, Mumbai, he joined Jesuit-managed St Xavier’s College. After a year, he joined St Pius X Seminary in Mumbai (then Bombay). He was ordained a priest in 1970 by Cardinal Valerian Gracias. He served as chancellor and secretary to Jesuit Bishop Joseph Rodericks of Jamshedpur until 1976.
He then left for Rome for higher studies and earned a doctorate in canon law from the Pontifical Urbaniana University in 1982. He also secured a diploma in jurisprudence. On his return to Mumbai, he was named chancellor, judge of the metropolitan tribunal, and judicial vicar. He was a visiting professor to seminaries in Bombay, Poona, and Bangalore, as served as the president of the Canon Law Society of India.
In 1997, he was appointed Auxiliary Bishop of Bombay. Three years later, he was named the Archbishop of Agra in one of the fastest rise in Church hierarchy. He returned as the Archbishop of Bombay in 2006. He served as the secretary and later president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India. He is currently the president of the Conference of Catholic Bishop in India (Latin rite) and the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences.
Pope Benedict XVI made him a cardinal in 2007. Pope Francis chose him as one the eight cardinals to advise him and to study a plan for revising the Roman Curia.