By Stanislaus Alla

New Delhi, May 31, 2022: Indian Catholic Church rejoices at the choice of Pope Francis who on May 29 announced that Archbishops Filipe Neri Ferrao of Goa and Daman and Anthony Poola of Hyderabad will be created cardinals at a consistory to be held at the Vatican on August 27. Pope Francis is known to surprise the faithful and the larger world, and his choices and decisions attest to it.

He has been consistently going out of the way in naming the cardinals: he picks them up from the dioceses and nations that are less-known. At other times they represent the faithful who have largely remained insignificant, marginalized, persecuted or who live faithful lives heroically. Several large, wealthy and powerful archdioceses who by default were headed by cardinals go without them now. Ability to serve the faithful with humility, courage and holiness (and not obsessed with power and authority) is crucial and central to Pope Francis.

Seen in this background, both the appointments of the ’Princes of the Church’ from India are significant. The Goa archbishop, currently the president of the Conference of Catholic Bishops in India (CCBI), represents the Goa-Konkan belt, hub of the East Indian communities. Similarly, Archbishop Poola is highlighted as the representative of Indian Catholic Dalit community. Sizable number of the Indian Catholics comes from this cultural background, and having been discriminated against, they are fighting to right the historic wrongs.

While there is a place for such identifications, descriptions and celebrations, it is equally important to remember that both of them have multiple identities that need to be recognized and celebrated and, more importantly, know that they both face diverse challenges, more than in the past, that call for bold and faithful responses.

Cardinals are created and, besides participating in the conclave that elects a Pope, they are to serve as advisors to the Pope and the Vatican administration, and, it is helpful to recall this. For instance, Archbishop Poola represents multiple constituencies: the faithful of the Archdiocese, the Telugu Catholic Church that is spread across Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, the Indian as well as the Asian Catholic community. That he represents the Dalit Catholics is important but identifying him only with the caste-tag is unhelpful and uncharitable. Caste identity is unavoidable and one’s experience plays an indispensable role in forming one’s views and responses.

While the faithful hope that eventually caste will be forgotten or become irrelevant, as of now, it continues to have a major impact in lives of the people with some enjoying privileges and others facing discrimination. The Lord listens to the cries of the truly poor and the discriminated and the entire Church has to vow to root-out this evil so that all are treated with dignity and respect.

Politicization of the issue also illustrates and reveals how complex the problem and the solutions to it are. That caste is a grave concern and that it needs to be addressed is undeniable and Archbishop Poola would have to play a significant role in bringing this into the Church’s conversations and discussions and help find ways to resolve it. Analogously, the struggles of the Adivasis – also called tribals or the indigenous people –are different, but in the appointment of Cardinal Telesphore P Toppo in 2003, the community found a representative to be celebrated.

At the same time, it is important that the naming of Archbishop Poola as a cardinal is to be celebrated by all Telugu Catholics as well as the Catholics living in the twin Telugu states. Since the Telugus were baptized over 300 years ago (incidentally, dozens of French Jesuit missionaries lived in what is today demarcated as Kurnool diocese from where Poola hails) the Church has been expanding -thanks to the evangelizing efforts of countless missionaries, priests and the religious. In that sense, the entire Telugu Catholic Church spread in the twelve dioceses ( plus 2 Syro-Malabar dioceses) is jubilant at this appointment and celebrates it in that spirit.

We all hold multiple identities and they can be upheld simultaneously. Primarily, the cardinal-designate represents the Telugu Church. First and foremost, together we rejoice at our identity as Telugu Catholics: the gifted and lived Faith, the Graces that we are grateful to, and the struggles and challenges that we have to face together. Equally, he represents the Indian Church, especially the poor and the discriminated people, by confronting evil in its multiple forms and inviting us to let the Lord renew us all.

Moreover, both the cardinals will have to face a country that is confronted with numerous problems. The Goa archbishop already spoke on the need to educate ourselves -as well as the others in the country- of the Indian Constitution so that we dedicate ourselves to uphold the values and principles enshrined in it. Allegedly, systems and structures such as democracy are under attack and religious fundamentalism threatens to harm the very fabric of our nation.

The Catholic Church, already under attack in several parts of the nation, will have to join all other people of goodwill in confronting these, and the Church’s leadership, including the cardinals will have to play a critical role in shaping this response. May the Indian Church’s new ‘princes’ (to be dressed in red) have not only the passion for the Lord and the Lord’s people but also the boldness to speak truth to power, believing that truth alone wins – satyam eva jayate!

(Jesuit Stanislaus Alla teaches moral theology at Delhi’s Vidyajyoti College of Theology.)