By Jose Kavi

New Delhi, Jan 25, 2025: Pope Francis on January 25 accepted the resignation of Cardinal Oswald Gracias, the archbishop of Bombay, and elevated Coadjutor Bishop John Rodrigues as his successor.

Cardinal Gracias, who turned 80 on December 24, 2024, had submitted his resignation five years ago, but it was officially accepted only now, says a press statement issued by Father Nigel Barrett, the archdiocesan spokesperson.

Bishop Rodrigues has been the archdiocese’s coadjutor bishop since November 30. His installation as coadjutor bishop took place at the Cathedral two days ago.

This was first announced at noon in Rome and its corresponding time of 4:30 pm in India.

The faithful, clergy, religious, and people of goodwill in the archdiocese have accepted Archbishop Rodrigues as their spiritual leader, says the press statement.

The new archbishop is known for deep knowledge, competence, experience, and holiness of life, it adds.

In a video message released earlier on the day, Cardinal Gracias expressed gratitude to his collaborators in the archdiocese. He also acknowledged the Pope’s paternal care and God’s protection that helped him guide the archdiocese.

Archbishop Rodrigues hailed Cardinal Gracias as “a giant of a man, and now as his successor I have mighty big shoes to fill.”

Cardinal Gracias’s visionary leadership has left an indelible legacy in the local Church, the national Church in India, and the universal Church, the statement says.

The archdiocese has scheduled a Mass on February 11, the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes, at the cathedral, to welcome Archbishop Rodrigues.

Since April 13, 2013, Cardinal Gracias was a member of the Council of Cardinal Advisers, a group established by Pope Francis to advise him and to study a plan for revising the Apostolic Constitution on the Roman Curia.

He has led the Asian Church as the president of the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences and the Indian Church as the president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India and the Conference of Catholic Bishops of India, Latin rite.

Cardinal Gracias was born in Bombay (now Mumbai) to Jervis and Aduzinda Gracias in 1944. After his school studies at St. Michael’s School in Mahim and the Jesuit-managed St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai. he entered the seminary of St. Pius X in Bombay, where he studied philosophy and theology.

Cardinal Valerian Gracias (no relation), the first cardinal of India, ordained him as a priest on December 20, 1970. The new priest served as the chancellor and secretary to Bishop Joseph Rodericks of Jamshedpur for five years from 1971.

Gracias attended the Pontifical Urbaniana University from 1976 to 1982; and obtained a doctorate in canon law, a diploma in jurisprudence. On his return to India, he was named chancellor, judge of the metropolitan tribunal, and judicial vicar of the archdiocese of Bombay.

In 1991, Father Gracias was made the archdiocesan consultor. He had served as a visiting professor in the seminaries of Bombay, Poona, and Bangalore. He was also the president of the Canon Law Society of India.

Pope John Paul II appointed him the auxiliary bishop of Bombay on June 28, 1997. Pope John Paul named him the Archbishop of Agra on September 7, 2000. Pope Benedict XVI brought him back to Mumbai as the archbishop of Bombay on October 14, 2006.

Pope Benedict XVI on October 17, 2007, elevated Archbishop Gracias as a cardinal. Pope Benedict named him a member of the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts on May 6, 2008 and of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments two years later.

Cardinal Gracias was one of the seminary teachers of Archbishop Rodrigues.

The 57-year-old prelate was the bishop of Poona from March 2023 to November 30, 2024. Earlier, he served as the auxiliary bishop of Bombay for ten years.

Archbishop Rodrigues was born on August 21, 1967, to Stanley Rodrigues and Corinne at Bandra, a suburb of Mumbai. His two elder brothers are priests, one of them Jesuits.

His father died in 1975 and his mother was a leader of the Marriage Encounter movement and founded a charity to support widows.

After his ordination on April 18, 1998, he studied at the Pontifical Lateran University, Rome, and earned a licentiate in systematic theology.

He was named rector of St Pius X College, but became the auxiliary bishop within a few weeks. He has also served the archdiocese as secretary of the priests’ council from 2010 to 2013 and as coordinator for the Year of Faith in 2013-2013.

Pope Francis named him the auxiliary bishop of Bombay on May 16, 2013, and ten years later sent him to Poona as its bishop.

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