Just before Christmas, I had the great pleasure of participating in a grand welcome in the small central Kerala town of Changanassery for India’s newest Cardinal – and, at 51, the world’s youngest – George Jacob Koovakkad. Then, on Christmas Eve in Thiruvananthapuram, I attended a Midnight Mass conducted by him at the historic Lourdes Church in the state capital. The new Cardinal is a soft-spoken, understated man, but there was no underestimating the devotion and passionate commitment to his faith that burns behind his sombre eyes.

Born on 11th August 1973 in Changanassery, Cardinal Koovakad has had an illustrious career in the Catholic Church. His journey from a humble parish in India to the College of Cardinals is a testament to his dedication, scholarship, and service to the Church. During his undergraduate days as a chemistry student in Kerala, he served as the president of the Catholic Students’ Movement, showcasing his quietly effective leadership skills from an early age. After switching to ecclesiastical and theological studies, he quickly excelled, pursuing advanced studies in canon law at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross in Rome. He completed his doctorate in 2006 with a thesis titled "The Obligation of Poverty for Secular Clerics in the Codes of Canon Law." His concern with the experience of poverty – and the obligation of service to the poor – have marked him since.

After routine priestly duties in Kerala, he prepared for service in the Holy See’s diplomatic corps, the Vatican’s “foreign service” that posts clerics around the world to deal with governments and the faithful. From 2006, when he entered the diplomatic service, to 2020, he served the Church in five countries. Strikingly, these were two Muslim-majority countries (Algeria and Iran), two Catholic-majority countries (Costa Rica and Venezuela), and one mixed Buddhist and Christian (South Korea), in addition to his own pluralist land of India, where Christians are a 2.2% minority, and his headquarters in Italy, a country where they are a 85% majority. It’s a profile almost made for inter-faith dialogue and diplomacy. “Blessed are the........

© Mathrubhumi English