Archbishop Thomas Ignatius Macwan is the current archbishop of the
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Gandhinagar.
Early life
He was born on 14 October 1952 in
Bhavnagar
Bhavnagar is a city in the Bhavnagar district of the Saurashtra region of Gujarat, a States of India, state of India. It was founded in 1723 by Gohil Koli, Bhavsinhji Takhtasinhji Gohil (1703–1764). It was the capital of Bhavnagar State, whi ...
,
Gujarat
Gujarat (, ) is a state along the western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the fifth-largest Indian state by area, covering some ; and the ninth ...
.
Priesthood
He was ordained a Catholic priest on 9 April 1988.
Episcopate
He was appointed Bishop of the
Roman Catholic Diocese of Ahmedabad on 11 November 2002 and ordained Bishop on 11 January 2003. He was appointed Archbishop of
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Gandhinagar on 12 June 2015 and installed on 12 September 2015 by
Pope Francis
Pope Francis ( la, Franciscus; it, Francesco; es, link=, Francisco; born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, 17 December 1936) is the head of the Catholic Church. He has been the bishop of Rome and sovereign of the Vatican City State since 13 March 2013. ...
.
Controversy
During the 2017 campaign for Gujarat Assembly elections, Archbishop MacWan issued a letter to the Christian community suggesting that they pray for the election of "humane leaders", to "save" India "from nationalist forces". The
Legal Rights Observatory
The Legal Rights Observatory (LRO) is a legal rights organisation affiliated with the Hindu nationalist organization Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. It is led by Vinay Joshi, a former RSS worker. According to Joshi, the group consists of a 150 vo ...
lodged a complaint with the Election Commission of India against the archbishop. The Election Commission served a notice to the archbishop, asking for an explanation.
References
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:MacWan, Thomas Ignatius
Living people
21st-century Roman Catholic archbishops in India
1952 births
People from Bhavnagar