More than 10,000 people braved heavy rains to attend a ceremony to elevate Calicut diocese as a metropolitan arch-diocese and its bishop as its first metro-politan archbishop. Apostolic Nuncio to India and Nepal Archbishop Leopoldo Girelli led the May 25 ceremonies at St. Joseph’s Church, in Kozhikode (formerly Calicut). In his homily during the inaugural Mass, Cardinal Baselios Cleemis, head of the Syro-Malankara Catholic Church and president of the Kerala Catholic Bishops’ Council, stressed the deep spiritual signi-ficance of occasion. He commended the faith and leadership of the faithful of the newly erected archdiocese. The cardinal paid tribute to St. Francis Xavier, whose missionary zeal in the Malabar region laid the foundation for the Syro-Malabar and Syro-Malankara Churches. He noted that Calicut’s new archdiocesan status stands as a testament to this enduring spiritual legacy, rooted in centuries of evangeliza-tion and community witness.
Consistory to reflect on Church’s mission to communicate God’s love
In a letter to the Cardinals ahead of a late-June Consistory, Pope Leo XIV calls for a deeper reflection on the themes of “Evangelii gaudium,”
