TANKER Foundation Co-Founder and Managing Trustee, Mrs. Latha A. Kumaraswami, had the good fortune to have an audience with His Holiness Pope Leo XIV during her visit to Rome to participate as the former President of the IFKF – WKA at its conference co-hosted by the Italian Kidney Foundation.

The audience was organised by His Eminence Cardinal George Jacob Koovakad.

Mrs. Latha Kumaraswami, during her meeting with the His Eminence, honoured him with a shawl, the TANKER memento, which is a personalised, special, ceramic mug, and the book written by TANKER Foundation Founder Trustee, Dr. Georgi Abraham, ‘My Patients, My God’.

She also handed over the IFKF-WKA conference cap.

His Eminence Cardinal Koovakad belongs to the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church, who is prefect of the Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue.

Since 2020 he has worked in the offices of the Holy See’s Secretariat of State in the Journeys Office, which was responsible for organising His Holiness Pope Francis’ overseas trips, and he has headed the office since 2021.

On December 7, 2024, His Holiness Pope Francis made him a Cardinal, assigning him as a member of the order of cardinal deacons the deaconry of Sant’ Antonio di Padova a Circonvallazione Appia.

In place of the red biretta given to the new cardinals of the Latin rite, Pope Francis placed a black and red shash on Cardinal Koovakad’s head.

On January 11, 2025, Koovakad was named a member of the Dicastery for the Eastern Churches. On January 24, 2025, he was appointed as the Prefect of the Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue. He is the third prelate from India to head a Curial department, the first from the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church. He continues to serve as Head of the Journeys Section of the Secretariat of State.

His Eminence Cardinal Koovakad participated as an elector in the 2025 papal conclave that elected His Holiness Pope Leo XIV. As the junior cardinal deacon, he was responsible for a variety of administrative functions such as selecting by lot the cardinals responsible for counting the ballots, and for opening and closing the doors of the Sistine Chapel as necessary.

The TANKER family is ever so grateful to His Eminence Cardinal Koovakad for effecting the audience with His Holiness Pope Leo XIV.