Bishop Raphael Thattil elected head of Syro-Malabar Church

By Matters India Reporter

Kochi, Jan 10, 2023: Bishop Raphael Thattil of Shamshabad has been elected the Major Archbishop of the Syro-Malabar Church.

This was announced at 4:30 pm on January 10 at a press conference by Archbishop Mathew Moolakatt of Kottayam at the Church’s headquarters in Kakkanad, Kochi, Kerala.

The election was done during the Church’s synod meeting that began on January 8 at Kakkanad.

Pope Francis has approved Bishop Thattil, 67, as the new leader of the Church that has nearly 6 million people spread across the globe.

He is the fifth head of the Church with self-governing powers that traces its origin to Saint Thomas the Apostle.

He succeeds Cardinal George Alencherry, who resigned as the head of the Oriental Church on December 7. The other major archbishops were Abraham Kattumana, Antony Padiyara and Varkey Vithayathil.

The new archbishop was the bishop of the eparchy of Shamshabad since 2018. Earlier, he was the auxiliary bishop of Trichur.

He was born as the last of the ten children of Ouseph and Thresia Thattil on April 21, 1956, in Thrissur. He did his schooling at St Thomas College High School, Thrissur, and joined St Mary’s Minor Seminary, Thope in 1971. He did his ecclesiastical studies in St Thomas Apostolic Seminary, Vadavathoor, and he was ordained a priest by Mar Joseph Kundukulam on December 21, 1980.

Accepting the new post, Thattil told the gathering that he remains the same “Thattil achan” (Thattil priest) they know.

Major Archbishop Thattil was first appointed as the assistant vicar of Aranattukara and later as Father Prefect of minor seminary. He was then sent to Pontifical Oriental Institute, Rome, for doing Bachelor of Theology and Doctor of Canon Law. His thesis was on “Clerical Formation in the Syro Malabar Church: A Historico-Juridical Study.”

On returning, he was appointed as the director of Catechism. In 1998 he was appointed as the first rector of the Mary Matha Major Seminary. On January 15, 2010, he was appointed the auxiliary.

Pope Francis’ letter of approval:

LETTER OF THE HOLY FATHER FRANCIS TO CONFIRM THE CANONICAL ELECTION OF THE MAJOR ARCHBISHOP OF ERNAKULAM-ANGAMALY OF THE SYRO-MALABAR CHURCH

To His Beatitude
Mar Raphael Thattil Major
Archbishop of Ernakulam-Angamaly

I have received the letter with which, according to canon 153 §2 of the Codex Canonum Ecclesiarum Orientalium, you petitioned the Roman Pontiff to confirm your canonical election by the Synod of Bishops of the Syro-Malabar Church as Major Archbishop of Ernakulam-Angamaly, Father and Head of this beloved Church sui iuris.

Please know that I willingly grant the confirmation you have requested and express my fraternal good wishes in Jesus Christ, our Lord and God. I pray that, after the example of your venerable predecessors, you may strive to offer a generous and fruitful pastoral ministry to the flock now entrusted to your care. I likewise urge you especially to remember the poor and those most in need. May the Holy Spirit foster the unity, fidelity and mission of the Syro-Malabar Church, so that it may grow and flourish under your paternal guidance.

In extending my cordial greetings to the Brother Members of the Synod, to the clergy, men and women religious, seminarians and candidates for consecrated life, and to the lay faithful of the Syro-Malabar Church, I invoke the intercession of the Holy Mother of God, the Holy Patriarch Saint Joseph and the Apostle Saint Thomas. To all of you, I impart my Blessing, as I assure you of my spiritual closeness and ask that you, please, pray for me.

Rome, from Saint John Lateran, 9 January 2024

FRANCIS