Pope Benedict XVI has appointed Archbishop George Antonysamy, Apostolic nuncio to West African Countries, as the new Archbishop of Madras and Mylapore. He succeeds Archbishop Malayappan Chinnappa, who has retired.
The announcement was made in the Vatican on Wednesday, Chancellor Dr. Charles Kumar informed.
Archbishop Antonysamy, the Pope’s Ambassador to Gambia, Liberia and Sierra Leone, is the sixth archbishop of this ancient, historical and amalgamated archdiocese. He was born on February. 15, 1952, in Tiruchy, did his early school education there and soon joined St Augustine’s Minor Seminary.
After his Bachelor of Philosophy and Master of Theology in Urban University, Rome, he was ordained priest on November 19, 1980, in Tiruchy. He had obtained his Doctorate in Theology from Lateran University, Licentiate in Canon Law from Pontifical Urban University, Rome, Italy. The archbishop-elect completed one year as assistant parish priest at the Holy Redeemer’s Minor Basilica, Tiruchy, and was sent to Rome for higher studies.
In 1987, he was chosen to the Diplomatic Service of the Holy See (Vatican) by Blessed Pope John Paul II and was posted in the Apostolic Nunciatures (Vatican Embassies) in different countries like Indonesia, Algeria, Tunis, Libya, Morocco, in North Africa, the Central African Republic, Congo, Chad in Central Africa, Bangladesh, the Baltic Countries – Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Finland in Europe.
In 2002, Pope John Paul II appointed him as the Charge d’Affaires of the Vatican Embassy in Jordan. On August 4, 2005, Monsignor George Antonysamy was elected as Titular Archbishop of Sulci in Sardinia, Italy, by Pope Benedict XVI and had his Episcopal Ordination on September 21, 2005 in Tiruchy.
He was simultaneously appointed as the Apostolic Nuncio to Gambia, Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone, an office which he holds until now.
Apart from Tamil and English, he speaks six other international languages – Italian, German, French, Spanish, Portuguese and Indonesian.