Kerala: Mar Raphael Thattil is the New Major Archbishop of Syro-Malabar Church

By Verghese V Joseph.

Mar Raphael Thattil, Bishop of Shamshabad diocese of Telangana, on Wednesday, was elected as the new Major Archbishop of Kerala’s Syro-Malabar Catholic Church in India, following Cardinal George Alencherry’s retirement on December 7, 2023.

The bishops of southern India’s Syro-Malabar Catholic Church of Kerala began the selection process on Monday. The new Major Archbishop will oversee a dynamic yet divided community, facing challenges related to Eucharistic liturgy unity and fostering growth.

The Synod of Bishops, consisting of 53 members, convened at the St. Thomas Mount church headquarters in Kakkanad in the Ernakulam district of Kerala on January 8 for the closed-door voting process. Bishop Sebastian Vaniyapurackal served as the administrator for the election.

Following the selection, the Holy Father Pope Francis on Wednesday, granted the confirmation requested in accordance with Canon 153 of the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches.

The installation of the Major Archbishop will be he held at 2.30 pm on Thursday, 11 January 2024, at the Major Archiepiscopal Curia of the Syro-Malabar Church, Mount St. Thomas, Kakkanad.

Born to Ouseph and Thresia on April 21, 1956, Mar Raphael Thattil was baptised at Thrissur on April 30, 1956. His brothers and sisters are Lazar (late), Thomas, Baby (late), Francis, Sosannam, Joy, and John. On July 4, 1971, he enrolled in St. Mary’s Minor Seminary in Thope following his elementary schooling at St. Thomas College High School in Thrissur. In 1980, he graduated from St. Thomas Ap. Seminary Kottayam having studied philosophy and theology. In Thrissur Doloures Basilica on December 21, 1980, he was ordained by Mar Joseph Kundukulam. He completed his graduate studies in Oriental Canon Law in Rome. His dissertation dealt with “Clerical Formation in the Syro Malabar Church: A Historico-Juridical Study.”

Following his ordination, Mar Raphael Thattil held positions as acting vicar of Koonammoochy (1983), assistant vicar of Aranattukara (1981–1982), assistant vicar of St. Mary’s Minor Seminary (1982–1983), and assistant vicar of Cherumkuzhy (1983). After leaving Rome, he worked in the Archbishop’s residence as a judge, adjutant judicial vicar, vice chancellor, syncellus, and proto-syncellus. From 1992 until 1995, he served as the director of DBCLC & Catechism. After serving for a few months as the Marymatha Seminary’s first Rector (1998–2006), he was named project officer of the new Marymatha Major Seminary on January 20, 1998. In addition, he served as president and a member of numerous commissions and committees.

On April 10, 2010, he was consecrated as a bishop and named the titular bishop of Bruni and the auxiliary bishop of Trichur. He served as the Syro-Malabar faithful’s Apostolic Visitor in 2014 while they were living outside of the territorium proprium. On October 10, 2017, Pope Francis named him the first Bishop of the Syro-Malabar Catholic Eparchy of Shamshabad. On January 7, 2018, he was consecrated.

The new archbishop will oversee a vibrant but divided society, besides walking on a tight rope in maintaining the unity of the Eucharistic ritual and encouraging development.

The Syro-Malabar Church, rooted in the tradition of St. Thomas in India, traces its origins to the apostle’s evangelization between 42 and 72 AD. In the modern period (16th to 19th centuries), it faced changes under Portuguese and Roman jurisdictions, including the Synod of Diamper in 1599. The Coonan Cross Oath of 1653 led to divisions, with loyalists to Rome forming the Syro-Malabar Church. The church’s true modern period began in the late 19th century, establishing vicariates and indigenous hierarchy, eventually attaining Major Archiepiscopal Sui Iuris status in 1992.

With the erection of the Eparchy of Shamshabad a city in the state of Telangana and Hosur in Tamil Nadu in October 2017 and by extending the territories of the Eparchies of Tamil Nadu’s Ramanadhapuram and Thuckalay, Pope Francis granted the Syro-Malabar Major Archiepiscopal Church the jurisdiction for pastoral governance and evangelization all over India by the document Varietas ecclesiarum on 10 October 2017.