Bishop Anil Joseph Thomas Couto of Jalandhar has been named the new
archbishop of Delhi replacing Archbishop Vincent Concessao, who passed
the canonical retirement age of 75 last year.
Fr Mathew Koyickal,
chancellor of the archdiocese, read the letter of appointment from Pope
Benedict XVI Nov. 30 at the archbishop's house in New Delhi.
Around 100 people were present at the event. Bishop Couto could not take part in the program as he was out of the country.
Archbishop
Concessao served the Delhi archdiocese for 12 years since Sept. 7,
2000. The archbishop, born in Mangalore, celebrated his 75th birthday on
Sept. 28, 2011.
Church law demands all prelates to submit their
resignation on completion of 75 years of age. The Vatican will decide
whether these resignations will be accepted.
Archbishop Concessao said Bishop Couto, who was earlier Auxiliary
bishop of Delhi "is the most able person who can run the affairs of the
archdiocese."
Auxiliary Bishop Franco Mulakkal of Delhi said that people of the archdiocese wanted Bishop Couto to be appointed to the post.
“People
had a deep urge to have Bishop Couto as the head of the Delhi
archdiocese as he has been the auxiliary bishop of Delhi and knows the
dioceses and the people well,” he said.
Bishop Couto, 58, was
born in Goa and was ordained a priest for Delhi archdiocese on Feb 8,
1981. He became Auxiliary Bishop of Delhi in 2001 and continued in that
capacity until transferred to Jalandhar as its bishop in 2007.
The Delhi archdiocese, formed in 1959, has some 105,000 Catholics in 61 parishes.
The
Archdiocese comprises the state of Delhi and the districts of Gurgaon,
Rohtak, Mahendragarh, Sonepat, Faridabad, Nuh, Jhajjar and Rewari of
Haryana.
Jullundur is a suffragan diocese of the archdiocese along wih Jammu-Srinagar and Simla and Chandigarh dioceses.