Archbishop Benedict Mar Gregarios is head of Bishop’s conference

Archbishop Benedict Varghese Gregorios Thangalathil of Trivandrum, an Oriental-rite bishop, was overwhelmingly elected president of the Catholic Bishops´ Conference of India (CBCI) April 16.

Archbishop Mar Gregorios, who had served as CBCI vice president, succeeds Archbishop Simon Pimenta of Bombay, a Latin-rite prelate. About 98 Latin-rite and 25 Oriental-rite bishops attended the meeting.

The new CBCI president is the leader of the Syro-Malankara rite, and one of India´s senior bishops. He was ordained a bishop in 1953, and attended all the sessions of Vatican II.

An economist and diplomat, Archbishop Gregorios is faced with the responsibility of implementing the pope´s directives on inter-rite problems.

He told the bishops that the pope´s directives had pointed the way, and the only task ahead was to implement the pope´s guidelines.