By IANS
Mumbai : (IANS) The Archbishop of Mumbai Oswald Gracias, head of the almost 600,000-strong Catholic community in the city, has been appointed a cardinal by the Vatican, the only Asian in the latest list announced in Rome.
Gracias, 62, will be ordained into the prestigious College of Cardinals, which elects the Pope, at a special ceremony in Rome on Nov 24.
Gracias was born in Mumbai and educated at the St. Michael’s High School, Mahim in central Mumbai and graduated from the St. Xavier’s College in south Mumbai.
He becomes the fourth cardinal from Mumbai and only the 10th from India since Independence. The first cardinal from India was the late Valerian Gracias, followed by Simon Pimenta and then Ivan Dias who was elevated to a senior diplomatic position at the Vatican in 2005.
Gracias is among the 23 bishops from around the world who have been elevated as Cardinal. With this, the strength of the College of Cardinals has gone up to 202.