Church, politicians mourn prelate| Cathnews India

Church, politicians mourn prelate

Published Date: October 26, 2009

Tags: Acharuparambil, KCBC, OCD, Stephen Alathara, Verapoly

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Political and religious leaders have paid tribute to Archbishop Daniel Acharuparambil of Verapoly, the first non-European to head Rome’s Pontifical Urban University. He died on Oct. 26 at the age of 70 after a brief illness.

The Order of Discalced Carmelite priest has been president of the Kerala Catholic Bishops’ Council (KCBC) for the past two years.

He was admitted to Lourdes Hospital in Kochi, Kerala, on Oct. 24 with a severe infection and was put on life support system after his conditions worsened on Oct. 25.

KCBC spokesperson Father Stephen Alathara told UCA News that Archbishop Acharuparambil died at 11.30 a.m. He said the prelate’s body would be displayed for people to pay their respects on Oct. 27, with the funeral scheduled the next day.

Kerala Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan said the late prelate had helped foster inter-religious harmony in the state and his intervention had helped resolved several social issues.

Cardinal Varkey Vithayathil, president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India, said the deceased prelate had led the Kerala Church with dedication and conviction.

“He never compromised on Church teachings and was very much concerned about the poor,” the cardinal’s condolence message said.

Major Archbishop Moran Mor Baselios Cleemis of Trivandrum, who heads the Syro-Malankara Church, said that Archbishop Acharuparambil led the Church through difficult times.

There were serious differences with the state’s Marxist-led government over educational policies and attempts to interfere with the rights of religious minorities, he recalled.

Archbishop Acharuparambil was ordained a priest in 1966 and was an expert on Indian philosophy and Hinduism, having taught those subjects in at least six Western universities over three decades.

Archbishop Acharuparambil was the first non-European vice chancellor of Rome’s Pontifical Urban University, a post he occupied for six years.

In 1996, Pope John Paul II appointed him the metropolitan archbishop of Verapoly, the mother diocese of Kerala’s Latin Church in Kerala.

Since 2007, he has headed the state’s 5.5 million Catholics from the Latin, Syro-Malabar and Syro-Malankara rites which make up the Catholic Church in India.

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