Today afternoon I attended a special celebration mass for Archbishop Emeritus Soter Fernandez to be awarded by Pope Francis as the first cardinal of Malaysia at St John’s Cathedral at Kuala Lumpur.
The celebrstion was attended by 12 Catholic bishops throughout Malaysia and more than 30 dignitaries, including other Christian leaders and leaders of other faiths.
Malaysia has about 9% Christian population, among them, half of the total Christians are Catholics.
One of the marvelous thing done done by Pope Francis is to appoint Arbishop Emeritus Soter as the cardinal in Malaysia. This is a great boost for the Catholic and Christian community who have been suffering subtle religious persecution for decades.
I have heard a lot of good comments about Cardinal Soter. Many Catholics and priests missed him after he retired as the Archbishop. He has been a marvelous and caring bishop in the past. He is full of fire and zeal of doing God’s works.
Congratulations Cardinal Soter. May the Almighty God be with you always.
