Pope Francis breathed his last on Monday.
Credit: Reuters Photo
As the whole world is still grappling to come to terms with the demise of Pope Francis, with the death of the 88-year-old, the process to begin his successor has been set in motion.
Pope Francis, who was ailing for a while, breathed his last on Monday (April 21), just a day after the Holy Easter.
As per customs and traditions, a conclave of 138 cardinals -- all under the age of 80 -- will be called to pick Pope's successor.
And as per media reports there are as many as four Indians in the list of cardinals who will pick the the next chief of Catholic Church.
Though there are six cardinals in India, two of them are above 80 and so they will not be elegible to cast their vote.
Let us take a look at the four Indians who will have the right to vote to pick the next Pope.
Cardinal George Jacob Koovakad
At 51, Cardinal George is the youngest among the Indians. The Syro Malabar archbishop from Kerala, who is a Vatican diplomat, had previuosly organised Pope Francis' foreign tours. He received his priesethood in 2004 and got promoted to the College of Cardinals twenty years later.
Cardinal Anthony Poola
The 63-year-old holds the credit of being India's first Dalit Cardinal. His promotion to the College of Cardinals was seen as a pathbreaking moment in eradicating caste prejudices.
Cardinal Cleemis Baselios
The 64-year-old is the major archbishop of Trivandrum and the Major Archbishop-Catholicos of the Syro-Malankara Catholic Church. Having attained priesthoodin 1986, Cleemis got pomotion to College of Cardinals twenty six years later.
Cardinal Filipe Neri Ferrao
At 72, Cardinal Filipe is the oldest among Indians who will exercise franchise rights to pick the new Pope. A curusader of social justice, and climate change, Cardinal Filipe attained priesthood in 1979 and got promotion to the College of Cardinals forty three years later.