Pope Francis on Sunday appointed Archbishop of Hyderabad, Anthony Poola, as one of the new cardinals from India. He is the primary Dalit Christian in India to get the name and can be an elector for the destiny Pope elections.
“Poola is likewise the primary Telugu withinside the records of the Catholic Church to be appointed as cardinal, the second one largest name after Pope, withinside the global and the primary Dalit to get the position. It is an honour and popularity for the oppressed sections of Christianity,” Father S Bernard, Vicar General of Hyderabad, instructed HT.
Born on November 15, 1951, in Andhra Pradesh’s Kurnool district, Bishop Poola joined the minor seminary in Kurnool and studied at St Peter’s pontifical essential seminary in Bengaluru. He served as chairman of Youth Commission, AP Social Service Society, SC/BC Commission, secretary-popular and treasurer of Telugu Catholic Bishops Conference.
He became ordained as a clergyman on February 20, 1992, at Kadapa. He became appointed Bishop of Kurnool on February 8, 2008, and became ordained as Bishop on April 19, 2008. He became the chairman of teenagers fee withinside the Andhra Pradesh Bishops’ Conference.
On November 19, 2020, he became appointed as Archbishop of Hyderabad, changing Thumma Bala. He became mounted as Archbishop on January 3, 2021. He is now improved to the rank of Cardinal.
Bernard stated Bishop Poola will now be part of the College of Cardinals, which incorporates 229 cardinals, of whom 131 are electors who sopt for the Pope. “He can be one the various papal electors, who will sopt for Pope on August 27,” he stated, including that the whole Catholic network is pleased with this appointment.
Bishop Poola can even maintain to go the ecclesiastical province of Hyderabad, which includes the dioceses of Adilabad, Cuddapah, Khammam, Kurnool, Nalgonda and Warangal.
