The major archbishop of the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church, Mar George Alencherry, was elevated as a cardinal along with 21 others at a solemn ceremony at the St Peter’s Basilica, Vatican, on Saturday.

At the investiture ceremony, Mar Alencherry, 67, was called in as the 18th by Pope Benedict XVI who presented the new ‘Prince of the Church’ with scarlet-red biretta and a gold ring. Mar Alencherry is the fourth cardinal from Kerala and also the third consecutive head of Syro-Malabar Church elevated to the position by the Vatican.
The 84-year-old Pope later urged the College of Cardinals to “renounce the worldly style of power and glory” and treat the new responsibility as an opportunity to serve the faithful.

“Serve the Church with love and vigour, with the clarity and wisdom of teachers, with the energy and moral force of pastors (and) with the faith and courage of martyrs.”

Carl Joseph Becker, a theologian from Germany, was elevated as cardinal though he was not a bishop, in a deviation from the usual practice. The youngest among the lot is also a German, 55-year-old Berlin Archbishop Reynore Maria.

While this is the fourth time that Pope Benedict XVI is appointing new cardinals, critics were quick to see the continuation of a strong European bias to it. Of the 126 cardinals under age 80 — “elector cardinals” eligible to elect the Pope in a secret conclave — 67 are from Europe.

As per the practice, each of the new Cardinals was given charge of a church in Vatican. Mar Alencherry was given the charge of St Bernado, the same church that had been given to his predecessor Mar Varkey Vithayathil.

An Indian delegation from India attended the investiture ceremony. It included Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI) vice president Major Archbishop Mar Baselios Clemes Catholicos, Ranchi Archbishop Cardinal Toppo, Thalasserry Archbishop Mar George Valiamattom, Kottayam Archbishop Mar Mathew Moolakatt, Curia bishop Bosco Puthur, Ernakulam-Angamaly auxiliary bishop Thakyath, Kerala water resources minister P.J. Joseph, central minister K.V. Thomas and MPs Anto Antony, Jose K. Mani and P.T. Thomas.

Mar Alencherry will be back in Kerala in the first week of March after a tour of Israel.

A test of faith for young George

It was a test of faith and will for Mar George Alencherry when parents initially did not agree to his wish to become a priest.

Young George expressed his wish as soon as he passed the SSLC examination.

His elder brother Jose had already joined a seminary. “Our father (Mr Philipose) did not like the idea as another son had already joined the seminary. But, George was not ready to give up,” recalled Mar Alencherry’s elder brother Augustine Alencherry.

“George went and met the then Archbishop of Changanasserry Mar Mathew Kavukattu who, in turn, asked him to meet him after the pre-university course. This was to give him time to think through,” Augustine told DC over phone from the ancestoral home of the new cardinal at Thuruthy near Changanassery.

“There was another reason too why our father did not agree initially. Our’s was a middle class agricultural family and seminary studies were costly those days. We needed to meet the boarding costs as well as the expenditure for books and stationery in the seminary,” Augustine said.

After the pre-university course, George joined the minor seminary at nearby Parel and pursued his degree courses in Economics from St Berchman’s College, Changanassery.

He came out with flying colours, getting a second rank in BA (Economics) from Kerala University.
“George was a brilliant student. In his school days, he used to score 100 per cent in subjects like mathematics and science,” Augustine recalled.

After the degree course, Mar George Alencherry began his studies for the priesthood and was ordained by archbishop Antony Padiyara in 1972. And, as the saying goes, he did not have to look back ever since.

Mar Alencherry has five brothers and four sisters, and he is the fourth among the siblings.

Two of them — Fr Jose Alencherry and Fr Francis Alencherry — are priests and a sister, Sr Cherupushpam, a nun. Their father Philipose had died in 1993 and mother Mary in 1983.