Telesphore Placidus Toppo (15 October 1939 – 4 October 2023) was an Indian prelate of the Catholic Church and a member of the aboriginal tribal community who was archbishop of the Archdiocese of Ranchi from 1985 to 2018, after serving as coadjutor there for a year. He was bishop of Dumka from 1978 to 1984. He was made a cardinal in 2003, the first from India's tribal population.
A polyglot, Toppo spoke Sadri, Oraon (mother tongues), Hindi (official language), English and Italian.[1]
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.[1] He and his family belonged to Adivasi (indigenous tribal) community.[2]
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.[3] He was the third cardinal from India, the first Adivasi and the first tribal Indian.[2][1] He said the title of cardinal was a "mark of distinction for the tribal Church in India and recognition of its growth".[4]
Toppo was elector at the 2005 papal conclave that elected Joseph Ratzinger as Pope Benedict XVI.[5]
Toppo was elected to serve a two-year term president of Catholic Bishops' Conference of India on two occasions, in 2004[6] and 2006.[7] 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.[citation needed]
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.[8] At the Synod on the New Evangelization in 2012, he called on religious orders to commit themselves anew to missionary work.[9]
Toppo was one of the cardinal electors who participated in the 2013 papal conclave that selected Pope Francis.[10]
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.[11][12]
Toppo sat on the Board of World Religious Leaders for the Elijah Interfaith Institute.[1]
Pope Francis accepted Toppo's resignation as Archbishop of Ranchi on 24 June 2018, announcing as his successor Felix Toppo, Bishop of Jamshedpur.[13]
Telesphore Toppo died at the Constant Lievens Hospital & Research Center in Ranchi, on 4 October 2023, at the age of 83.[14]
