By Matters India Reporter
Kolkata, Sept. 20, 2025: Pope Leo XIV has accepted the resignation of Archbishop Thomas D’Souza from the pastoral governance of the Archdiocese of Calcutta, effective September 20.
With this, Coadjutor Archbishop Elias Frank has automatically succeeded him as the tenth archbishop of the archdiocese, based in Kolkata, the capital city of West Bengal state. He is the sixth Indian prelate of the archdiocese.
In a message, Archbishop D’Souza thanked the archdiocese’s priests, religious and laity for their support during his tenure that began on February 23, 2012.
He also shared that he would assist in Our Lady of Lourdes Parish, Barasat, from September 29. “I will reside in the parish presbytery,” he added. The parish is in North 24 Parganas district, some 25 km northeast of Kolkata.
The archdiocese has scheduled a Thanksgiving Mass at 10 am on September 28 at Kolkata’s Cathedral of the Most Holy Rosary. Archbishop Frank will preside over the Mass, and Apostolic Nuncio Archbishop Leopoldo Girelli will concelebrate with the regional bishops, says a press release from the Conference of Catholic Bishops of India.
Archbishop D’Souza was born on August 26, 1950, in Ayapady, Diocese of Mangalore, Karnataka, southern India. He joined the Diocese of Darjeeling in eastern India in 1966. He was ordained a priest on April 16, 1977.
Following the death of Bishop Eric Benjamin of Darjeeling in 1994, he served as the diocesan administrator, a post he held until he was appointed the first bishop of Bagdogra diocese in 1997. He was ordained bishop on January 25, 1998.
On March 12, 2011, Pope Benedict XVI appointed him the coadjutor archbishop of Calcutta. He succeeded Salesian Archbishop Lucas Sircar on February 23, 2012.
The Calcutta archdiocese covers the cities of Kolkata and Howrah and adjoining regions. The largest ecclesiastical jurisdiction in West Bengal state, the archdiocese covers 29,858 sq. km with a total population of over 40 million people, including more than 177,000 Catholics.
The first Christian settlements in Bengal appeared at the end of the 16th century around the Church of Bandel, on the banks of the river Hooghly.
At Kolkata, the first Catholic chapel was built in 1700. Vicariate Apostolic of Bengal, with Kolkata as its headquarters was established in 1834.
The vicariate was entrusted to the English province of the Society of Jesus. In 1838, the diocesan clergy took over its administration. In 1864, the Belgian Jesuits took charge of the area.
With the establishment of the hierarchy in India in 1886, the vicariate apostolic became the archdiocese of Kolkata and Jesuit Monsignor Paul Goethals became its first archbishop.
The first Indian to head the archdiocese was Archbishop Albert V. D’ Souza, who held the post during 1962-1969. He was succeeded by Jesuit Archbishop Lawrence Trevor Pichachy, who later became a cardinal. When the cardinal resigned in 1986, Archbishop Henry D’Souza succeeded him.
Archbishop Sirkar headed the diocese for ten years from 2002.
Why can’t the Catholic Church introduce a “fixed term” (say 10 years for example) for a bishop? Province Leader (Provincial) and Congregation Leader (General) are elected for a fixed term. Once they complete their term, they take up other assignments given by the congregation. Likewise, after the completion of his term the bishop should serve as a priest in any place of his choice in the same diocese. This will solve many “relationship problems” between a bishop and his priests. Today, it is very unfortunate that quite many bishops have become “liabilities” in their own dioceses. Priests and lay Catholics are compelled to wait for the completion or retirement of a bishop. Change is the need of the time.