Mumbai: At the Clergy Meeting held today at St Pius X College, the Chancellor of the Archdiocese of Bombay, Fr Neil Dos Santos, announced that Pope Francis has requested His Eminence, Oswald Cardinal Gracias, to continue as the Archbishop of Bombay until further provisions are made.
His Eminence Oswald Cardinal Gracias was appointed Archbishop of Bombay, by Pope Benedict XVI. A former professor to the seminaries of Bombay, Poona, and Bangalore, Cardinal Oswald Gracias has a doctorate in canon law and a diploma in jurisprudence. He also served prestigious bodies like the FABC, CCBI, and CBCI in the position of Secretary General/President for various terms. Oswald Cardinal Gracias is the President of the Catholic Bishops of India (CBCI) Delhi.
The Archdiocese of Bombay has been a Metropolitan See since the time it was elevated by Pope Leo XIII on September 1, 1886. The ecclesiastical province of Bombay includes the suffragan dioceses of Nashik, Pune, and Vasai. One hundred and twenty-five years ago in 1886 through a Concordat signed by the Holy See and Portugal and following that through Pope Leo XIII’s Bull Humanae Salutis, Bombay (as it was then called) became an Archdiocese, with its own Archbishop.