Archbishop Andrews Thazhath

Archbishop Andrews Thazhath, Archbishop of Trichur (Syro-Malabar), was born on December 13, 1951, in Pudukad, in the Archeparchy of Trichur. He received his priestly formation at St. Joseph Pontifical Seminary in Alwaye, where he obtained a baccalaureate in theology, and he was ordained a priest on March 14, 1977, at Nandikara. In Rome he went on to obtain a licentiate and then a doctorate in canon law at the Pontifical Oriental Institute. In the course of his priestly ministry he served as parochial vicar and parish priest in several parishes; as prefect of the minor seminary; as notary and judge of the eparchial tribunal; as vice-chancellor and then chancellor of the eparchy; as director of several eparchial apostolate offices; as a member of the eparchial college of consultors; as consultor of the Major Archiepiscopal Commission for particular law; as judge and then president of the Syro-Malabar Major Archiepiscopal Ordinary Tribunal; as syncellus of the metropolitan see of Trichur; and as president of the Oriental Canon Law Association of India. On March 18, 2004, he was appointed Auxiliary Bishop of Trichur (Syro-Malabar) and Titular Bishop of Aptuca. He received episcopal ordination on May 1, 2004, at Trichur, with Jacob Thoomkuzhy as principal consecrator and James Pazhayattil and Jacob Manathodath as co-consecrators, and he served as proto-syncellus of the archeparchy until 2007. On January 22, 2007, he was appointed Archbishop of Trichur (Syro-Malabar), and he was installed on March 18, 2007. He served as vice-president of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of India from 2014. On July 30, 2022, he was appointed Apostolic Administrator of Ernakulam-Angamaly (Syro-Malabar), an office he held until December 7, 2023.