Poola: India’s first Dalit cardinal, serving the poor and the marginalised
05/02/2025
Born into a mixed family with a Catholic father and a Hindu mother, he experienced firsthand and from an early age the difficulties and marginalisation outcasts face. He was able to study thanks to men of the Church who strengthened his faith and allowed him to discover his vocation. Hyderabad is a cosmopolitan, multicultural place with different languages. Proclaiming the Gospel is a “challenge”.
Delhi (AsiaNews) – “I was born a Christian. My father was a baptised Catholic, but my mother was a Hindu, and they had a Catholic marriage. My dad was a catechist with the Mill Hill Missionaries, so I grew up under the guidance of Fr Boone, a Mill Hill Missionaries,”[*] said Cardinal Anthony Poola.
The metropolitan archbishop of Hyderabad, capital of Telangana, a state in southern India, is among the cardinal electors at the Conclave that will pick the successor of Pope Francis.
Looking back to the origins of his faith and family, he does not hide the difficulties he experienced from childhood.
“Mine is a small village, but due to the caste system and we are Dalits, we lived on the outskirts of the village, not part of the settlement, around half a kilometre away from the upper caste houses. We were not even allowed to draw water from the wells of the upper caste,” he said.
“Whenever we were thirsty and went to the higher caste people, sometimes, where there used to be a well… they would pour in our hand, water was poured from a high distance into our outstretched hands…and we had to drink water. But that didn’t make me tired and it wasn’t painful. We accepted that social stigma.”
“According to the government, once we are baptised, we lose all the rights and benefits given to Dalits from the government, in education, scholarships, job reservations, etc.,” Card Poola explained, touching some of the critical issues faced by those who live on the margins of society.
At the end of elementary school, he had to abandon his studies due to his family’s economic hardships; for this reason, his father could not allow him to go beyond the eighth grade. But after staying at home for a year, he met Dutch missionaries at a summer camp; they offered to contribute to his educational path, recognising his potential.
This did not come without sacrifices, like walking several kilometres every day, often barefoot, to reach the school. Still, he managed to attend high school and university where he studied economics and, at that time, he told his mentor about his desire to enter the seminary.
“After seventh grade I had to take a break because of poverty. I thought that was the end of my education. But it was mainly missionaries who took interest and brought me to Kadapa and helped me go for an education. After my BA, I felt that I didn’t have any connection with this missionary. But they took charge of me and helped me go to school and made me worthwhile. That is the reason why I wanted to join the seminary.”
As a bishop he wrote lyrics, conducted choirs, produced Telugu devotional music, and launched a diocesan newsletter, Kurnool Vani, as well as oversaw the establishment of 11 new parishes supporting education for the needy.
He also ensured basic and higher education for poor children by starting scholarships for them. His life motto is: “Good news to the poor”, a vision that has earned him the admiration of the Dalits, who make up 75 per cent of the Indian Catholic Church.
“These places are very poor and drought-prone areas. When we have to go to the villages, we can only go in the evening as people will go for work during the day. We ring the bell at the church and we gather the children and teach catechism. And people sometimes have to cook and come to the church. So that was wonderful to watch.
“That made me move with compassion and love, I especially felt a great responsibility to the children, to give them the gift of education because they don’t have money or assets to sell. I see into my own life story.”
Card Anthony Poola, Metropolitan Archbishop of Hyderabad, was born on 15 November 1961 in Poluru, Diocese of Kurnool. After attending the minor seminary in Nuzvid, he studied at St Peter’s Pontifical Seminary in Bangalore, receiving his priestly ordination on 20 February 1992, and was then incardinated in the Diocese of Cuddapah.
After the first years as deputy, the future cardinal served as parish priest between 1994 and 2003 in Tekurpet, Badvel and Veerapalli, and then studied for a Master’s Degree in Pastoral Care in the United States of America. From 2004 to 2008, he was director of the Christian Foundation for Children and Aging, secretary for Education and vice-administrator of diocesan schools.
On 8 February 2008, he was appointed bishop of Kurnool and on 19 November 2020 metropolitan archbishop of Hyderabad, a place he defines as “cosmopolitan, multicultural with different languages, but not many Dalits: only five or six out of 141 priests, the others are predominantly upper caste.”
He received the cardinal biretta in the consistory of August 2022; he is a member of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development.
“The challenge for me is Proclamation of the Gospel especially in the shrines and in the institutions, because in the institutions (schools, colleges, hospitals, etc.), we keep both the Holy Bible and the Bhagwat Gita,” he said. “It is a big challenge for us to go out boldly and proclaim the Gospel”.
“We have religious classes, for Catholics students in our schools, where they are taught catechism. We have moral class for children of other faiths.”
“The poor are generous, they give their talents, they offer time and resources, they come voluntarily, to help, they offer from their own sparse means, and as Pope Francis says, it is the poor who are generous, or as Mother Teresa says, give until it hurts,” the prelate said.
“We should be good Samaritans, Missionaries of Compassion, people ready to go out and help, as well as make use of their time, talents and energies.”
