Varkey Cardinal Vithayathil
His Eminence Varkey Cardinal Vithayathil (born 29 May 1927) is a Cardinal Priest and the Archbishop of Ernakulam-Angamaly for Syro-Malabars in India in the Roman Catholic Church.
Born in Parur, India, Vithayathil was ordained as a priest in 1954. He holds a doctorate in canon law from the Pontifical University in Rome and taught for 25 years at the Redemptorist seminary in Bangalore.
From 1978 to 1984, he was Provincial for India and Sri Lanka (1978-84),, from 1984 to 1985, President of the Conference of Religious, India, and form 1990 to 1996 Apostolic Administrator of the Asirvanam Benedictine Monastery in Bangalore.
Appointed titular Archbishop of Ohrid on 11 November 1996 and Archbishop of Ckeikh-Abadeh two years later, Vithayathil was finally named Major Archbishop of Ernakulam-Angamaly for Syro-Malabars on 18 December 1999 and named a cardinal by Pope John Paul II on February 21, 2001. He is currently (as of 2005), President of the Synod of the Syro-Malabar Church.
Vithayathilwas one of the cardinal electors who participated in the 2005 papal conclave that selected Pope Benedict XVI.