India: Pope appoints two new auxiliary bishops in Bangalore
Vatican News India pope Pope Francis New Auxiliary Bishop Bangalore Diocese of Bangalore
RVA News
Pope Francis has appointed Fr. Arokia Raj Satis Kumar and Fr. Joseph Soosainathan as auxiliary bishops of the Bangalore Archdiocese in the Indian state of Karnataka.
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RVA
Pope Francis has appointed Fr. Arokia Raj Satis Kumar, Chancellor of the Archdiocese, and Fr. Joseph Soosainathan, parish priest of Sacred Heart Church, as auxiliary bishops of the Bangalore Archdiocese in the southern Indian state of Karnataka.

Fr. Arokia Raj Satis Kumar, 47, was born in Bangalore on September 5, 1977. He studied philosophy and theology at St. Joseph's Seminary in the Diocese of Mangalore and was ordained as a priest for the Archdiocese of Bangalore on May 2, 2007.

He has held various positions and pursued further studies, including serving as Assistant Parish Priest at St. Joseph, St. Francis Xavier's Cathedral, and Christ the King in Malleswaram from 2007 to 2010.

The priest earned a master's degree in Canon Law from the St. Peter's Pontifical Institute in Bangalore (2010-2012), served as Parish Priest of Christ the King in Malleswaram (2012-2014), and completed a doctorate in Canon Law at the Pontifical Urban University of Rome (2014-2017).

He has been a judge for the Ecclesiastical Tribunal since January 7, 2018, Rector of the Bhavan Bhakti Minor Seminary, and Parish Administrator of Lourdes in Tumkur. He was appointed Chancellor of the Diocese in 2019, Professor of Canon Law at St. Peter's Pontifical Institute in Bangalore in 2020, and Coordinator of Studies for Major Seminarians in 2021.

Fr. Joseph Soosainathan, 60, was born in Bangalore on May 14, 1964. He studied philosophy at St. Peter's Pontifical Seminary and theology at St. Paul's Seminary in the Diocese of Tiruchirappalli. He was ordained as a priest for the Archdiocese of Bangalore on May 15, 1990.

His pastoral duties have included serving as Assistant Parish Priest of St. Joseph and St. Francis Xavier Cathedral (1990-1991), Parish Priest of St. Anne (1991-1997), St. John Evangelist (1997-2004), Our Lady of Fatima (2004-2010, 2017-2020), Sts. Peter and Paul (2010-2017), and Sacred Heart (since 2020).

The Bangalore Archdiocese has a Latin Catholic population of 360,561, with 134 parishes and 157 diocesan priests. It covers 27,014 square kilometers, including the civil districts of Bangalore Urban, Bangalore Rural, Chickballapur, Kolar, Ramnagara, and Tumkur.

The archdiocesan territory was once part of the Mysore Mission, which separated from Pondicherry in 1845. The Mysore Mission became an apostolic vicariate in 1850 and a diocese in 1886, with its headquarters in Bangalore.

On February 13, 1940, the Diocese of Bangalore separated from Mysore and became an archdiocese in 1953.

The former Archbishop Alphonsus Mathias passed away on July 10, 2024, at the age of 96, with his funeral scheduled for Monday, July 15, 2024. Archbishop Peter Machado, 70, is the current Metropolitan Archbishop of Bangalore, and Archbishop Bernard Blasius Moras, 82, is the Archdiocese's Emeritus Archbishop.