Bangladeshi Church celebrates new Nuncio, an Indian with an ‘African’ past
Dhaka (AsiaNews)
- More than a thousand lay Catholics, 100 nuns , 30 priests and 11 bishops from
all the dioceses of Bangladesh, participated in the inaugural Mass of Msgr. George Kocherry , the new
Apostolic Nuncio . The
function took place yesterday in Dhaka. Archbishop
Patrick D' Rozario welcomed the new papal representative to the country expressing
his " full support of the whole Church of Bangladesh ."
Msgr.
Kocherry, 68, is Indian and arrived in the country on 10 September . Before
the ceremony he met President Abdul Hamid . During
the liturgy , he hailed the community : "I am very happy that I came to
Bangladesh. I will work together for the welfare of all and for humanity."
Msgr. Kocherry was
born on 4 February 1945 in Changanassery (Kerala) . He
left India in 1967 to study philosophy and theology in Rome, where he took a
doctorate in Canon Law . In 1974 he was ordained a priest. He
has served as secretary in the nunciatures of South Korea , Costa Rica, Nigeria,
West Indies , Thailand , Singapore, Switzerland and Australia.
In
2000 he was appointed Apostolic Nuncio to Ghana and elevated to archbishop. He
served for eight years n the African country: in 2008 he was moved to the
Nunciature in Zimbabwe. He
came to Bangladesh to take the place of the American Archbishop Msgr. Joseph
Marino , the Vatican called him to head the first diplomatic mission in
Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur , which was created earlier this year.
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30/07/2018 11:47
