Kochi | Catholic Bishop Raphael Thattil was on Thursday installed as a Major Archbishop of the influential Syro-Malabar Church, which boasts a following of five million believers in India and abroad.

Thattil elevation was marked a religious ceremony held at Saint Thomas Mount in Kakkanad near here. The installation ceremony was led by Curia Bishop Sebastian Vaniyappurackal and attended by archbishops from the four archeparchies of the Syro-Malabar Church.

During the nearly 45-minute-long ceremony, a letter sent by Pope Francis to Thattil confirming his canonical election as Major Archbishop was read out.

Representatives of the Vatican, bishops of eparchies, and a few priests of the Syro-Malabar Church were also present at the ordination and installation, which took place a day after the Church announced the election of Thattil as the new Major Archbishop of the Ernakulam-Angamaly Archdiocese, the seat of the head of the Syro-Malabar Church.

Thattil was elected recently during the Synod meeting held at Saint Thomas Mount in Kakkanad, near here.

He is the fourth head of the Syro-Malabar Church, one of the 23 Eastern (Oriental) Catholic Churches in full communion with Rome.

The 67-year-old succeeds Cardinal Mar George Alenchery, who resigned from the post of Major Archbishop of Ernakulam-Angamaly Archdiocese last month.

Before his election, Thattil was the Bishop of the Syro-Malabar Catholic Eparchy of Shamshabad in Telangana since October 2017