Pope names Goan priest in Eucharistic Congress
HERALD NEWS BUREAU
PANJIM, MARCH 4
Pope Benedict XVI on Thursday appointed Fr Theodore Mascarenhas, SFX, official of the Pontifical Council for Culture, as member of the pontifical committee for International Eucharistic Congresses for a period of five years.
Fr Mascarenhas, a Pilar priest who is currently based in Rome, is incharge of the Departments of Asia, Africa and Oceania at the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Culture.
Hailing from Camurlim-Salcete, Fr Mascarenhas was awarded the doctorate in sacred scripture at the Pontificio Instituto Biblico, Rome-Italy in June 2003.
Fr Mascarenhas also teaches holy scripture at the Pontifical Gregorian University, Rome the Pontifical St. Thomas University, Rome and the Pilar Theological College, Pilar, Goa.  
Fr Mascarenhas is also closely coordinating the process for the beatification of Fr Agnelo with the postulator in Rome Fr Antonio Marrazzo.
“I felt humbled by the faith reposed in me by the Holy Father. The new appointment will inspire me to work even more devotedly for Christ and his church,” said Fr Theodore, when contacted over the phone.
“The task entailed by this appointment is mostly consultative and would mean participating in meetings that would seek to animate and further the devotion to the eucharist.”
He also expressed his gratitude to the support of Cardinal Ivan Dias, Prefect of the Propaganda Fide, Cardinal Oswald Gracias, Archbishop of Mumbai, Archbishop Felipe Neri Ferrao, Archbishop Patriarch of Goa and Daman, Fr Tony Lopes, his Superior General and all the confreres of his Society.
The Pontifical Committee for International Eucharistic Congresses is part of the Roman Curia of the Roman Catholic Church. The committee was constituted and erected in 1879 by Pope Leo XIII and which received approval of its updated Statutes in 1986 from Pope John Paul II.
One such International Eucharistic Congress was held in Mumbai in 1964, which was presided over by Holy Father Paul VI. The last Eucharistic Congress was held in Quebec, Canada in 2008 and the next one is scheduled to be held in Dublin in 2012.
According to its Statutes the pontifical committee examines proposals that are to be submitted to the Holy Father about the city where Congresses will be held. After the approval of the place for the celebration of a Congress it falls to the competency of the same committee also to study both the theme and programme of this event, which must likewise be approved by the pope.