Pope Benedict XVI appointed Mar Cleemis to be the Cardinal

Pope Benedict XVI on 24 October 2012 appointed Major Archbishop-Catholicos Baselios Mar Cleemis as the Cardinal to boost Christianity in India. Cleemis is the head of the relatively-young Syro-Malankara Catholic Church and is the only Indian in the list of six senior prelates to be named as Cardinals in the latest expansion of the Church of Cardinals that is elected by the Pope.

Cleemis who is 53 years old, with this appointment has turned up to be the youngest Cardinals in the Catholic Church and is the first cardinal from the Syro-Malankara rite of Catholic Church and is now the first Prince of the Church as Cardinals are known.

Mar Cleemis is at Vatican to attend the proceedings of the Golden Jubilee of the Vatican’s Second Council at Rome. His investiture would be held in Rome on 24 November 2012 along with five other Cardinals named by Vatican.