Bishop Sebastian Francis Mechery (grand parents from Trichur, Ollur) Bp. of Penang, Malasia, is elevated as Cardinal by Pope Francis on 9-7-2023. Bishop Sebastian Francis Mechery of Penang is the new cardinal from Malaysia. Bishop Mechery was born on November 11, 1951, in Johor Bahru, which was then part of the Federation of Malaya. *His grandparents had emigrated to Malaya in the 1890s from Ollur in Thrissur district, Kerala.* He is the president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei since 2016.