His Beatitude Mar Varkey Cardinal Vithayathil Passed Away

His Beatitude Mar Varkey Cardinal Vithayathil Passed Away

The Major Archbishop of Syro Malabar Church His Beatitude Varkey Cardinal Vithyathil passed away at 2.30 at Ernakulam today on 1st April 2011 at the age of 84. Mar Vithayathil, who had been suffering from cardiac ailments for quite some time, was admitted to a private hospital around noon. He was celebrating Holy Mass at the Private chapel of the Bishop’s House by noon and after receiving Holy Communion he felt sick and he was rushed to the Hospital.

Present Situation of the Church Hierarchy
As per the Eastern Canon Law, the Curial Bishop, Mar Bosco Puthur will be the Administrator of the Church. He has to do all the necessary things for the funeral and conduct an election Synod of the Bishops and elect a new Major Archbishop.
At present all the bishops of the Syro-Malabar Church, including the administer Mar Bosco Puthur, are in Rome. Ad limina visit is scheduled once in every five years in Rome where all the bishops will meet the pope to brief about the happenings of their dioceses and the Church. 36 bishops of the Syro-Malabar Church will meet the pope of 7th April 2011 and then they will return to Kerala where the funeral of the Cardinal will take place.

The ad limina visit of the Bishops of the Syro-Malabar Church began on 28 March 2011. Ad limina apostolorum, the term more properly used (Latin, meaning "to the threshold of the Apostles") was originally, in the Middle Ages, a reference to a pilgrimage to the tombs of the Apostles Peter and Paul in Rome.

Person Mar Varkey Vithayathil
Mar Varkey Vithayathil was appointed the Major Archbishop of the Syro-Malabar Church and as the Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Ernakulam-Angamaly by His Holiness Pope John Paul II on December 23, 1999.

Cardinal Vithayathil was born to the pious parents Thresiamma and Justice Joseph Vithayathil at North Parur on May 29, 1927. He had his school education at North Parur and Thiruvanathapuram, and his college education at University College Thiruvanathapuram, and St. Joseph College, Trichy.

Varkey Vithayathil, who joined Redemptorist Order, was ordained Priest on June 12, 1954. In 1955 he went to Rome for his studies in Canon Law at the University of St. Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum) from where he took doctorate in 1959 on “The Origin and Progress of the Syro-Malabar Hierarchy”. After coming back from Rome, Dr. Varkey Vithayathil served as professor of Canon Law for about 25 years at the Redemptorist Major Seminary, Bangalore. In 1972 he took his Master’s Degree in Philosophy from Karnataka University. He also taught different subjects in several other Seminaries in Bangalore. He served as the Provincial Superior of the Redemptorist Order from 1978 to ’84, and as president of the CRI from 1984 to ’85. He was appointed Apostolic Administrator of the Benedictine Monastery in Bangalore (1990-96) by His Holiness Pope John Paul II. On 18th December 1996 Rev. Dr. Varkey Vithayathil was nominated Titular Bishop of “Antinoe” and the Apostolic Administrator of the Syro-Malabar Major Archiepiscopal Church and of the Archdiocese of Ernakulam-Angamaly. He was consecrated bishop in Rome by His Holiness Pope John Paul II on 6th January 1997. He assumed charge of the Syro-Malabar Major Archiepiscopal Church and of the Archdiocese of Ernakulam-Angamaly on 18th January 1997.