Former head of the Kuala Lumpur Archdiocese, Rev Archbishop Anthony Soter Fernandez, will become Malaysia’s first ever Roman Catholic cardinal next month.
According to a report by The Star Online, he was among the 17 prelates named by Pope Francis on Sunday.
The ceremony to evelate them would be held on November 19, according to Vatican Radio.
Cardinal is the second highest rank within the Roman Catholic hierarchy.
This time around, the 84-year-old Fernandez is one of only three Asian cardinals appointed, with Papua New Guinea’s Archbishop John Ribat and Bangladesh’s Patrick D’Rozario being the other two.
According to the news portal, Fenandez was ordained as a priest of the Diocese of Penang in 1966 and then becoming a bishop of the diocese in 1978.
In 1983, he was as the Kuala Lumpur Archdiocese’s second Archbishop before retiring 20 years later in 2003.
