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Major Archbishop Cardinal Mar Varkey Vithayathil Passes Away

Cardinal Mar Varkey Vithayathil (29 May 1927 - 1 April 2011), C.S.S.R, Major Archbishop of the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church, died of cardiac arrest at 2 pm today in Lisie Hospital, Ernakulam.

Mar Varkey Vithayathil born to Justice Joseph Vithayathil and Thresiamma Vazhapilly on 29 May 1927 in North Paravur, Travancore, Ernakulam, Kerala, India) was an Indian cardinal of the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church, serving as Major Archbishop of Ernakulam-Angamaly and head of the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church. He was also a member of the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer. In 1972 he took his Master's Degree in Philosophy from Karnataka University.


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. Pope John Paul II nominated Varkey Vithayathil a member of the college of cardinals on 21 January 2001.. He was one of the cardinal electors who participated in the 2005 papal conclave that elected Pope Benedict. In February 2008 he was elected President of the Catholic Bishops Conference of India.

In 2009, the cardinal, while speaking after the release of his biography, Straight From the Heart, replied to a press question on which party he sees as a greater threat, that "the greater threat will certainly be the Marxist one, because it is much better to live under those who believe in a God of love and mercy than to live under those who don’t believe in God and will do anything to bring about social justice, social equality and destroy all differences of class and caste." [3] His comment brought criticism from Indian leftists.

On 1 April 2011, Mar Vithayathil died due to prolonged heart problems at Lisie Hospital in Ernakulam.
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