15 Facts About Telesphore Toppo

Telesphore Placidus Toppo was an Indian prelate of the Catholic Church and a member of the aboriginal tribal community who was archbishop of the Archdiocese of Ranchi from 1985 to 2018, after serving as coadjutor there for a year.

Telesphore Toppo was bishop of Dumka from 1978 to 1984.

Telesphore Toppo was made a cardinal in 2003, the first from India's tribal population.

Telesphore Placidus Toppo was born in Chainpur, in the state of Bihar and now in Jharkhand, India, on 15 October 1939, the eighth of ten children.

Telesphore Toppo studied at St Xavier's College, Ranchi, and theology at the Pontifical Urbaniana University in Rome.

Telesphore Toppo was ordained priest on 3 May 1969 by Bishop Franz von Streng.

Telesphore Toppo was appointed Coadjutor Archbishop of Ranchi, capital of the Jharkhand state, on 8 November 1984.

Telesphore Toppo was made cardinal-priest by Pope John Paul II on 21 October 2003, given the titular church of Sacro Cuore di Gesu agonizzante a Vitinia.

Telesphore Toppo was the third cardinal from India, the first Adivasi and the first tribal Indian.

Telesphore Toppo said the title of cardinal was a "mark of distinction for the tribal Church in India and recognition of its growth".

Telesphore Toppo was elector at the 2005 papal conclave that elected Joseph Ratzinger as Pope Benedict XVI.

Telesphore Toppo was elected to serve a two-year term president of Catholic Bishops' Conference of India on two occasions, in 2004 and 2006.

Telesphore Toppo served as president of the Conference of Catholic Bishops of India, made up of Latin Rite bishops only, from 2001 to 2004 and from 2011 to 2013.

Telesphore Toppo was one of the cardinal electors who participated in the 2013 papal conclave that selected Pope Francis.

Telesphore Toppo sat on the Board of World Religious Leaders for the Elijah Interfaith Institute.