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Pope Benedict XVI's Indian connection
The pontiff once helped build a church in Kerala. The Papal Transition
While the world cheers Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger elected as the next Pope to lead 1.1 billion Roman Catholics, a priest in Kerala remembers the man as a friend who helped build a church in Alappuzha.
Father Abraham Kakkanattu, director of the Pushpagiri Medical College in Thiruvalla, is the first Indian who can claim that Pope Benedict XVI is a friend of the Catholic Church in India.
He remembers how the pontiff as archbishop of Munich provided financial aid for a church in Chungam, Alappuzha district.
The story goes back to the late 1970s when Kakkanattu undertook the task of building the St Mary's Malankara Catholic Church in Chungam. He couldn't raise enough funds and finally sought help from his friends and acquaintances in India and abroad.
Among them was John Madai, a lay theologian from Germany, who happened to be a good friend of Ratzinger. Madai had become a friend of Ratzinger when the latter was just a priest. Both had participated in the ecumenical discussions between the Catholic Church and the Patriarch of Greek Orthodox Church in Constantinople.
"Madai told me that in all likelihood Ratzinger was to become the archbishop of Munich in a couple of months and that he would be able to help me," Kakkanattu said.
"I had sent a detailed estimate to him."
In 1997, Ratzinger became the archbishop and in a couple of weeks Kakkanattu received the help, perhaps more generous than he expected. "Within a few days I received an amount of 20,000 German marks ($13,360) with which I could build the church."
Kakkanattu sent him a letter thanking him for his generosity. "To my surprise, I got a swift reply from him saying 'I have done my obligation. Do not thank me for this. It's my duty to help a church in need. I request the prayers of you and the entire parish'," he said quoting Ratzinger's letter.
The faithful in Chungam did not forget the timely help either. They installed a marble plaque saying that the church was constructed with the generous support of Joseph Ratzinger, archbishop of Munich.
The cardinal is now Pope Benedict XVI, and the Chungam church can boast of its special link with the new pontiff.
