Religion: A Cardinal for India

For a few hours this week, just 15 days before the elevation of 24 new cardinals in Rome, the death of Cardinal-designate Carlo Agostini, Patriarch of Venice (see MILESTONES), cut the list to 23. The following day, Pope Pius XII named another man. The new nominee, whose confirmation will help bring the College of Cardinals to its full strength of 70: India’s Valerian Gracias, 52, Archbishop of Bombay.

Archbishop Gracias, an energetic six-footer whose ancestors were converted to Christianity by the Portuguese, is the first Indian ever so honored. The only other Asian now a member of the Sacred College is China’s Cardinal Thomas Tien, refugee Archbishop of Peking.