Baselios Cleemis: the Indian cardinal of the Syro-Malankaras

Born Isaac Thottunkal, he chose the name of Clement of Alexandria as bishop. Major Archbishop since 2007, created cardinal by Benedict XVI, he is the first cardinal of this Eastern rite Church that has its seat in Trivandrum in Kerala. In his ministry he has closely followed the communities of the diaspora, but has also promoted numerous social works in India. He was president of the Conference of Catholic Bishops of India.

Kochi (AsiaNews) - He is the first cardinal in the history of his Church and at 65 years of age he will already participate in his second conclave. Indian Cardinal Baselios Cleemis is the major archbishop of the Syro-Malankara Catholic Church that has its seat in Trivandrum, the capital of the Indian state of Kerala.

Community of Syriac rite that harks back to the great missionaries of the first millennium who followed in the footsteps of the apostle Thomas in India, one of the 23 Eastern rite Catholic Churches and has about 450 thousand faithful between India and the diaspora communities.

Baselios Cleemis was born on June 15, 1959 in Mukkoor, in the district of Pathanamthitta and his baptismal name is Isaac Thottunkal. Responding to God's call to dedicate his life to the service of the Church and his brothers, in June 1976 he entered the Minor Seminary of the Infant Jesus of the eparchy of Tiruvalla, then continuing his studies at St. Berchman's College in Changanacherry, at the Pontifical Seminary of St. Joseph in Aluva and at the theological seminary in Pune.

On June 11, 1986 he was ordained a priest for the eparchy of Bathery. After earning a first master's degree in theology from Dharmaram College in Bangalore and a second in ecumenical studies from the University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome, he served as spiritual father, chancellor and proto-syncellus of his home diocese.

Appointed auxiliary bishop of Trivandrum and apostolic visitor to North America and Europe on June 18, 2001 by Pope John Paul II, as bishop he took the name Isaac Mar Cleemis, in honor of St. Clement of Alexandria.

In his ministry as apostolic visitor he worked to strengthen the Malankara Catholic missions in the diaspora, particularly those in North America: among the visible fruits of this work is the Mar Ivanios Catholic Center located in New Hyde Park in New York.

On September 11, 2003, Isaac Mar Cleemis was then appointed bishop of the Eparchy of Tiruvalla. And when the seat of the Major Catholic Archbishop of Trivandrum became vacant following the death of His Beatitude Baselios Cyril - the first leader of the Syro-Malankaras to whom the title of Major Archbishop was assigned by the will of John Paul II in 2005 - on 8 February 2007 he was elected by the Holy Episcopal Synod of the Catholic Church as his successor, a choice confirmed three days later by Benedict XVI.

As per the Antiochian Malankara tradition, he took the name of Baselios Cleemis, adding to the episcopal name the honorary title of Baselius, which in the Byzantine world indicated authority.

He was enthroned on 5 March 2007 in the Cathedral of St. Mary, in Trivandrum. Benedict XVI then created him cardinal in the consistory of November 2012, becoming the first representative of this Eastern Church to receive the purple.

From 2014 to 2018 he was also president of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of India, the collegial body that brings together the dioceses of the three different rites present in the country: Latin, Syro-Malabar and Syro-Malankara.

The Archbishop of Trivandrum is the heir to an ancient Christian tradition, but he is also a prelate personally committed to social works. During his ministry as Major Archbishop of Trivandrum he inaugurated two facilities for AIDS patients in Pirappencode (one of which is pediatric, dedicated to St. John and recognized by the Kerala government commission for juvenile justice) and a home for the indigent in Nalanchira. For children who cannot afford to pay for their studies he also opened an educational institute in Kattakada, while for mentally disabled children he created the Aswana Bhavan special school in Cheekanal.

Last year Baselios Cleemis also experienced a special joy for his Church: the promulgation by Pope Francis of the heroic virtues of the Indian Geevaghese Archbishop Mar Ivanios, the "Newman of the East" who in 1930 brought the Syro-Malankara Church into communion with Rome.

On that occasion the cardinal commented to AsiaNews: "His heroic virtues were his unshakable trust in providence and a profound communion with the Holy See and the Catholic faith, together with his intense spiritual life. Our Church has prayed fervently for many years for him to be declared venerable and now this moment has arrived. It is a great recognition for the Malankara community and for the holy life of the