After accepting Bishop Thomas Thuruthimattam's resignation from pastoral care, the Synod of Bishops of the Syro-Malabar Major Archiepiscopal Church chose Father Mathew Nellikunnel (53), CST, Bishop of Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh, to whom the Holy Father had given his approval.
Father Nellikunnel was born on November 13, 1970, in Mariapuram, in the Eparchy of Idukki, in the southern Indian state of Kerala.
In 1986, he entered the Congregation of Saint Teresa of the Child Jesus (Little Flower Congregation) of the Syro-Malabar Church and carried out his initial formation in Gorakhpur, making his profession on May 17, 1990, as a member of the Khrist Jyoti Punjab-Rajasthan Province.
Returning to Kerala to attend philosophy at the Little Flower Seminary and theology at the St. Joseph Pontifical Seminary in Aluva, he made his perpetual profession on May 12, 1996. He was ordained a priest on December 30, 1998.
After priestly ordination, he served the CST congregation as a formator at the minor seminary, community superior, and parish priest in Rajasthan.
From 2005 to 2010, he studied philosophy in Rome, obtaining a doctorate at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas.
From 2010 to 2012, he taught at the Little Flower Seminary in Aluva. From 2012 to 2015, he was a parish priest in Germany, in the diocese of Regensburg.
From 2015 to 2018, he was the Provincial Superior of the Khrist Jyoti Province.
Since 2018, he has held the position of Rector of the Little Flower Seminary, Aluva. He is the brother of Bishop John Nellikunnel of the Idukki Syro Malabar Eparchy. - Santosh Digal
Radio Veritas Asia (RVA), a media platform of the Catholic Church, aims to share Christ. RVA started in 1969 as a continental Catholic radio station to serve Asian countries in their respective local language, thus earning the tag “the Voice of Asian Christianity.” Responding to the emerging context, RVA embraced media platforms to connect with the global Asian audience via its 21 language websites and various social media platforms.
Latest News
