Two Indian Archbishops Receive Pallium from Pope Leo XIV, Called to Be Builders of Unity

Two Indian metropolitan archbishops were among the 35 newly appointed metropolitan archbishops from around the world who received the pallium from Pope Leo XIV during the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul at St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City on June 29.

Archbishop Elias Frank of the Archdiocese of Calcutta, based in Kolkata, the capital of the eastern Indian state of West Bengal, and Archbishop Antonysamy Savarimuthu of the Archdiocese of Madurai, in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, received the ancient insignia as a sign of their pastoral authority and communion with the Successor of St. Peter.

Archbishop Elias Frank, a native of Karnataka in southern India, was appointed Metropolitan Archbishop of Calcutta in September 2025 after serving as Bishop of Asansol, a diocese in West Bengal. Ordained a priest in 1993, he earned a doctorate in Canon Law from the Pontifical Urbaniana University in Rome and has served the Church in pastoral, educational, and administrative ministries. He now leads the historic Archdiocese of Calcutta, one of India's oldest Latin-rite archdioceses, serving thousands of Catholics through an extensive network of parishes, educational institutions, and social ministries.

Archbishop Antonysamy Savarimuthu, 65, was appointed Metropolitan Archbishop of Madurai in July 2025. Ordained a priest in 1987, he earned both his licentiate and doctorate in Canon Law from the Institut Catholique de Paris in France. Before his appointment as metropolitan archbishop, he served as Bishop of Palayamkottai and Apostolic Administrator of Madurai. The Archdiocese of Madurai, elevated to a metropolitan see in 1953, is one of Tamil Nadu's principal ecclesiastical provinces and comprises seven suffragan dioceses.

The pallium, a white woolen band adorned with six black crosses, symbolizes the pastoral mission of a metropolitan archbishop, his responsibility to shepherd the faithful entrusted to his care, and his close communion with the Bishop of Rome.

During the Eucharistic celebration, Pope Leo XIV urged the newly appointed metropolitan archbishops to follow the example of Saints Peter and Paul by becoming courageous witnesses to the Gospel and "builders of unity" in a world increasingly marked by division.

The conferral of the pallium is one of the most significant liturgical traditions for metropolitan archbishops, visibly expressing both their responsibility for their ecclesiastical provinces and their unity with the universal Church under the leadership of the Pope.