Bangalore (CCBI) on May 30, 2024: Due to age-related illnesses, Most Thumma Bala, (80), Archbishop Emeritus of Hyderabad, departed this life on Thursday, May 30, 2024, at 10.25 a.m. at Karuna Puram, in Warangal.
He visited his own sister in Karuna Puram before passing away. We await the specifics of his funeral. He served as the Bishop of Warangal (1987–2011) and the Archbishop of Hyderabad (2011–2020).
In the Warangal Diocese, on April 24, 1944, he was born in Narimetta. He was consecrated as a priest on December 21, 1970. He was consecrated as Warangal’s second bishop on November 17, 1986, at the age of 42. On March 12, 1987, he received his episcopal ordination.
On March 12, 2011, at the age of 66, Pope Benedict XVI named him the Archbishop of Hyderabad. On May 5, 2011, he was consecrated as the tenth Archbishop of Hyderabad. On November 19, 2020, Pope Francis accepted his resignation from the Hyderabad Archdiocese’s pastoral care.
He served as the rector of St. Paul’s Regional Catechists’ Training Center in Nuzivid, Vijayawada diocese from 1978 to 1980 before to being appointed as the bishop. From 1984 to 1986, I was a professor of catechesis at St. John’s Regional Seminary in Hyderabad. From 1984 to 1986, the St. John’s Regional Seminary in Hyderabad had a procurator.
From 1987 until 1995, he presided over the Telugu Regional Youth Commission as a bishop. From 1990 until 1995, the Jyotirmai Society’s chairman. 1987–1995 as Chairman of the Regional Catechetical Commission. 2002–2006 Chairman of the CBCI Health Commission. From 2002 until 2007, I was a member of the Pontifical Council for Health Care Apostolate in Rome.
He graduated from Pontifical Salesian University in Rome in 1980 with a Licentiate in Pastoral Theology and Catechetics. (1980-1983). On November 19, 2020, he was officially retired from the active episcopal ministry at the age of 76.