Telesphore Placidus Toppo was born in
Chainpur, in the state of
Bihar and now in
Jharkhand,
India, on 15 October 1939, the eighth of ten children. Toppo studied at
St. Xavier's College, Ranchi, and
theology at the
Pontifical Urbaniana University in Rome. He was ordained
priest on 3 May 1969 by Bishop Franz von Streng. After a stint at Torpa (Jharkhand), as Headmaster of St Joseph's School and Director of the Lievens Vocational Center, Toppo was named Bishop of
Dumka and received his episcopal consecration on 7 October 1978 from Archbishop Pius Kerketta SJ. He was appointed Coadjutor Archbishop of
Ranchi, capital of the
Jharkhand state, on 8 November 1984. He became Archbishop there on 7 August 1985. Toppo was made
cardinal-priest by
Pope John Paul II on 21 October 2003, given the
titular church of
Sacro Cuore di Gesù agonizzante a Vitinia. He was the third cardinal from India, the first
Adivasi and the first tribal Indian. Toppo was
elector at the
2005 papal conclave that elected
Joseph Ratzinger as
Pope Benedict XVI. Toppo was elected to serve a two-year term president of
Catholic Bishops' Conference of India on two occasions, in 2004 and 2006. He also served as president of the
Conference of Catholic Bishops of India, made up of Latin Rite bishops only, from 2001 to 2004 and from 2011 to 2013. At the Synod of Bishops in 2008, he endorsed ecumenical efforts but warned against "dilution of the Truth" and called for agreement on a common date for the celebration of Easter. At the Synod on the New Evangelization in 2012, he called on religious orders to commit themselves anew to missionary work. Toppo was one of the
cardinal electors who participated in the
2013 papal conclave that selected
Pope Francis. On 11 February 2008, he called for the proclamation of a new Marian dogma on Mary,
Mediatrix of graces,
Co-Redemptrix of humanity, with Jesus as sole and unique mediator. Toppo sat on the Board of World Religious Leaders for
the Elijah Interfaith Institute. Pope Francis accepted Toppo's resignation as Archbishop of Ranchi on 24 June 2018, announcing as his successor
Felix Toppo, Bishop of
Jamshedpur. Telesphore Toppo died at the Constant Lievens Hospital & Research Center in Mandar, on 4 October 2023, at the age of 83. ==References==