On Friday, Simon Ignatius Cardinal Pimenta passed away. The Indian prelate was 93 and lived at the Clergy Home for retired priest in Mumbai.
Born in 1920, Simon Pimenta attended St. Pius X seminary and also studied pedagogy and mathematics at Bombay State University. In 1949 he was ordained for the Archdiocese of Bombay. As a priest he assisted in parishes and also worked at the local Curia.
In 1954, Father Pimenta graduated in Canon Law from the Pontifical Urbaniana University in Rome. Back in Bombay, he continued assisting in parishes, in addition to working as secretary to the archbishop, Valerian Cardinal Gracias. He was also vice-chancellor and defender of the bond. From 1959 to 1960, Fr. Pimenta was also adminstrator of the Cathedral of the Holy Name. In following years, he was episcopal vicar for the formation of young priests and for the liturgy, a topic he also taught at the seminary. He would eventually become seminary rector.
In 1971, Fr. Pimenta was appointed as auxiliary bishop of Bombay, with the titular see of Bocconia. Cardinal Gracias consecrated him, with Bishop Longinus Pereira, auxiliary of Bombay, and Bishop William Gomes, ordinary of Poona, serving as co-consecrators. In 1977, he was appointed to succeed Cardinal Gracias, and became Coadjutor Archbishop of Bombay. He took over as Metropolitan Archbishop in 1978.
Archbishop Pimenta would remain as Bombay’s shepherd for 18 years, until his retirement in 1996. In 1988, he was created a cardinal and given the title church of Santa Maria “Regina Mundi” a Torre Spaccata. He was president of the Conference of Catholic Bishops of India from 1982 to 1988 and from 1994 to 1996.
202 cardinals remain in the College of Cardinals, with 112 of them being electors.
