ERNAKULAM, APRIL 01: Cardinal Mar Varkey Vithayathil, C.S.S.R, Major Archbishop of the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church, died of cardiac arrest at 2 pm today in Lissie Hospital, Ernakulam.
Cardinal Varkey was the head of the Syro-Malabar Church and former president of the CBCI.
Born on May 29, 1927, Mar Vithayathil was ordained as a priest in 1954. A member of the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer (CSSR), he taught for 25 years at the Redemptorist seminary in Bangalore.
He was appointed Apostolic Administrator of Ernakulam-Angamaly in November 1996 and was ordained Bishop in January 1997.
He was appointed Major Archbishop of Ernakulam-Angamaly for Syro-Malabars by Pope John Paul II in December 1999.
He participated in the 2005 papal conclave that elected Pope Benedict XVI.
In February 2008 he was elected President of the Catholic Bishops Conference of India.
Coincidentally, all the Archbishops and Bishops of Syro-Malabar Church are in Rome for the ad limina visit.
The Shrine of Bellary Arogya Mathe was blessed and dedicated on 8th September 2000 on the feast of the Nativity of our Blessed Mother Mary in memory of the great jubilee 2000 and the Golden Jubilee of the Diocese of Bellary