About Duraisamy Simon Lourdusamy
Duraisamy Simon Lourdusamy (5 February 1924 – 2 June 2014) was an Indian cardinal of the Catholic Church. He was the Prefect of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches in the Roman Curia and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1985. His episcopical motto was Aedificare domum Dei which means "To build the house of God". He was the fourth cardinal from India and the first curial cardinal of Asia outside of the Middle East. == Biography == Lourdusamy was born in Kalleri (a village near Gingee in present-day Viluppuram district, Tamil Nadu, India). He was the seventh of twelve children of Annamarie (aka Matharasi) and Duraisamy Simeon. Lourdusamy was the elder brother of priest and theologian D. S. Amalorpavadass, who was killed in an automobile accident while travelling from Mysore to Bangalore. The two of them played a significant part in the implementation of Vatican II Council reforms in India and leading others to do the same. He enjoyed a close relationship with Pope John XXIII, Pope Paul VI, Pope John Paul I, and most especially, with Pope John Paul II and his fellow curial cardinal Joseph Ratzinger and future Pope Benedict XVI. John XXIII elevated him to the episcopal ranks and appointed him to the See of Bangalore, Pope Paul VI invited him to Rome to serve the Universal Church from 1971. Cardinal Lourdusamy also worked with Pope John Paul I as Secretary of the Congregation for Evangelization of Peoples.
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