Pope Francis appointed Most Rev. Poola Anthony, D.D., currently Bishop of Kurnool, as the new Archbishop of Hyderabad. The Christian community in the twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderbad celebrated Poola`s appointment. This provision was made public in Rome Thursday. He will be the fifth Archbishop of Hyderabad.
Pope Francis appointed Most Rev. Poola Anthony, D.D., currently Bishop of Kurnool, as the new Archbishop of Hyderabad. The Christian community in the twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderbad celebrated Poola`s appointment. This provision was made public in Rome Thursday. He will be the fifth Archbishop of Hyderabad.
Bishop Anthony Poola, 59, hails from Chindhukur in the Kurnool district of Andhra Pradesh. He joined the minor seminary in Kurnool and then studied at St. Peter’s Pontifical Major Seminary, Bengaluru. He was ordained a priest in February 1992.
Bishop Poola’s appointment comes after the Holy Father accepted the resignation of Archbishop Thumma Bala of Hyderabad, who reached the bishops’ canonical retirement age of 75 in April last year.
Some of his significant postings include serving as Director at St. Thomas Boarding Home and as Parish Priest of Our Lady of Fatima Church, Badvel in Kadapa district from 1995 to 2000. In 2001-02 he was the resident priest at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church, St. Joseph, Kalamazoo Diocese, in the United States. In 2002-03 he was Associate Pastor at St. Genevieve Catholic Church, Archdiocese of Chicago. Back in Kurnool, he has worked as Chairman for Andhra Pradesh Social Service Society from 2008 to 2020, and as Secretary-General & Treasurer of Telugu Catholic Bishops’ Conference from 2014-2020.
The Christian community in Hyderabad welcomed the appointment with the Archdiocese of Hyderabad leading the Eucharistic celebrations on Thursday evening.
