Matters India Reporter
New Delhi: An Indian missionary who was recently appointed a bishop in Papua New Guinea has been infected with Covid and undergoing treatment in his native country.
Father Siby Mathew Peedikayil came to India on April 24, much before the Pope appointed him the bishop of Aitape diocese in the Oceanic country. He had spent a few days in quarantine in Thrissur, Kerala.
The Vatican announced his episcopal appointment on May 13.
Pope Francis on May 13 appointed a missionary priest from India as the bishop of Aitape, a diocese in Papua New Guinea, a country in Oceania.
The bishop-elect is a member of the Heralds of Good News, a congregation based in Andhra Pradesh state.
The 50-year-old priest is the current vicar general of the diocese of Vanimo.
“He was admitted ten days back in St. James Hospital in Chalakudy and will be discharged tomorrow, June 1,” Father Saji Sebastian, head of the congregation’s St Paul’s province, told Matters India May 31.
Father Sebastian said the bishop-elect’s infection was mild and he recovered from Covid soon.
However, the congregation has lost two priests, including one aged 35, to the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic.
“We are saddened by the death of our priests, but we hope God rewards them for their dedicated services to his people,” he added.
Peedikayil’s episcopal ordination date is “yet to finalize and it will be held in Papua New Guinea,” Father Sebastian explained.
A cousin of the bishop-elect in Delhi said the family members are worried about his health and praying for his speedy recovery. “We are happy that he is getting better,” she told Matters India requesting anonymity.
According to her, the bishop-elect might have contracted the virus from people who came to meet him when he came to Kerala.
The two Heralds of Good News members were among the nearly 210 Indian priests who had died in the second wave of the virus, starting March. The country has also lost some 220 women religious during the time, according to a list prepared by Capuchin Father Suresh Mathew, editor of the Indian Currents weekly.