92-year-old Metropolitan Archbishop Mar Joseph Powathil dies
Riddhi Singh "Journalist" 
On Saturday afternoon at Kottayam, Metropolitan Archbishop (Emeritus) Mar Joseph Powathil died away. He was 92.
He resigned in 2007, after serving as campus director of the Changanacherry Syro Malabar Catholic Church from 1985 to 2007.
He was ordained as a priest in 1962 and later named a bishop by Pope Paul VI in 1972. He was well-known for the stances he took and was a bishop who was well appreciated by people of all faiths.
At the renowned Oxford University, he further studied economics.
Subsequently, Oommen Chandy, a two-time former chief minister, studied under him at the renowned SB College Changanacherry.
He served as the Catholic Bishops Conference of India's (CBCI) president from 1994 to 1998, the head of the Kerala Catholic Bishops Council from 1993 to 1996, and the head of the CBCI's education commission.
Since 1998, he has been a part of the Post Asian Synodal Council in Rome, Italy.
The outpouring of condolences has begun, but the Church has not yet made a decision about how the deceased's last rites will be conducted.
