By Jose Kavi
New Delhi, July 9, 2020: Two Indian prelates are among the new members Pope Francis appointed on July 8 to the Pontifical Council for Inter-religious Dialogue.
They are Archbishop Felix Anthony Machado, the secretary general of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India, and Bishop Raphy Manjaly of Allahabad.
They will join Cardinals Luis Antonio Tagle, the Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples; and Michael Czerny, the Jesuit under-secretary of the Migrants and Refugees Section of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, Vatican News reports.
The council is the Church’s central office for promoting interreligious dialogue in accordance with the spirit of the Second Vatican Council, in particular the declaration Nostra aetate (In our time), the declaration on the Church’s relation with other religions.
It is responsible for promoting mutual understanding, respect, and collaboration between Catholics and followers of other religious traditions; encouraging the study of religions; and promoting the formation of persons dedicated to dialogue.
The current president the council is Cardinal Miguel Ángel Ayuso Guixot, who has held the post since May 25, 2019.
Archbishop Machado, 72, is the bishop of Vasai since 2009. He had served as the under-secretary of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue from 1999 to 2008.
A native of Vasai in Maharashtra, he was ordained a priest in 1976 for Bombay archdiocese. His family relations include both Christians and Hindus and one of his cousins was among the founders of the Bharatiya Janata Party that heads the federal coalition.
As the under-secretary of the Vatican’s dialogue council, he helped organize the interreligious prayer service held in Assisi in 2002.
Pope Benedict XVI in 2008 appointed him bishop of Nashik, a diocese in Maharashtra. The same pope transferred him to Vasai in 2009.
He chairs the Office for Interreligious Dialogue of the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences. He has reached out to the Sikh community and advocates dialogue with Hindus to ease their concerns about conversions to Christianity.
Bishop Manjaly was born on February 7, 1958, in Kerala, southern India. He joined St. Lawrence Minor Seminary in Agra, in 1973, and St. Joseph’s Regional Seminary, Allahabad, in 1975. He was ordained a priest in 1983 for Agra archdiocese.
He completed his doctorate in Spirituality from Angelicum University, Rome.
He was appointed Varanasi bishop in 2007 and transferred to Allahabad in 2013.
Pope Francis also appointed Cardinals Dieudonné Nzapalainga, Archbishop of Bangui; Louis-Marie Ling Mangkhanekhoun, Vicar Apostolic of Vientiane; Ignatius Suharyo Hardjoatmodjo, Archbishop Jakarta and Ordinary of the Military Ordinariate of Indonesia; and Jean-Claude Höllerich, Archbishop of Luxembourg, to the Council.
Other members from around the world are Archbishops Lawrence Huculak of Winnipeg of the Ukrainians; George Frendo of Tiranë-Durrës; Mark Tin Win of Mandalay; Jean-Marc Aveline of Marseille, Paul Desfarges of Alger and Bishops Paul Yoshinao Otsuka of Kyōto; Thomas Chung An-zu of Kiayi; Ambrogio Spreafico of Frosinone-Veroli-Ferentino; Michael Joseph McKenna of Bathurst; William Hanna Shomali of Lidda; Denis Chidi Isizoh of Legia; Patrick Joseph McKinney of Nottingham; James Massa of Bardstown; and Joseph Đình Đúc Đao of Xuân Lôc.