India’s Latin rite bishops reelect office bearers

By Stephen Alathara

Bengaluru, Nov 12, 2022: Cardinal Filipe Neri Ferrão, archbishop of Goa and Daman, was re-elected president of the Conference of Catholic Bishops of India (CCBI), the national body of the country’s Latin rites bishops.

The election took place during the conference’s 33rd plenary assembly held Nov 11-12 at St. John’s National Institute of Health Sciences in Bengaluru, southern India.

Cardinal Filipe Neri was elected first time in 2019 by the 31st Plenary Assembly held in Chennai and replaced Cardinal Oswald Gracias of Bombay. Abp. George Antonysamy and Abp. Anil Couto were elected first time in 2017 by the 29th Plenary Assembly held in Bhopal and reelected in 2019.

Pope Francis elevated Filipe Neri Ferrão as Cardinal on August 27, 2022 and appointed as the Cardinal-Priest of Santa Maria in Via. He was appointed as one of the members of the Dicastery for Evangelization on October 7, 2022. He was the former Vice President of the CCBI from 2011 to 2017.

Cardinal Ferrão was born on January 20, 1953, and ordained a priest on October 28, 1979. Appointed Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Goa and Daman on December 20, 1993, he received the Episcopal Ordination on April 10, 1994. On December 12, 2003, he was appointed the Archbishop of Goa and Daman and Patriarch of the East Indies and installed as Archbishop on March 21, 2004.

Archbishop Antonysamy held various responsibilities of the Catholic Church in the past, such as Pope’s Ambassador to Gambia, Liberia and Sierra Leone; charge d’Affaires of the Vatican Embassy in Jordan. In 2012, he was appointed the sixth archbishop of Madras-Mylapore Archdiocese. He was born on February 15, 1952, in Trichy, Tamil Nadu, and was ordained a priest on November 19, 1980, for the diocese of Trichy.

He was also the former chairman of the CCBI Commission for Canon Law and Legislative Texts, from 2015 to 2019. He was the chairman of the St. John’s National Academy of Health Sciences, Bengaluru, since 2020. Pope Francis appointed him a member of the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples on November 17, 2020. He was elected the vice president of the CBCI in its 35 General Body Meeting held on November 10, 2022. The CBCI is the assembly of the Indian Catholic Bishops of Latin, Syro Malabar and Syro Malankara Churches.

Archbishop Couto was born on September 22, 1954, and was ordained a priest on February 8, 1981. He was appointed Auxiliary Bishop of Delhi January 17, 2001, and ordained a bishop on March 11, 2001. He was appointed the bishop of Jalandhar on February 24, 2007. He was transferred to Delhi as its archbishop on November 30, 2012. He was installed as the archbishop on January 20, 2013.

According to the CCBI statutes, its office bearers are elected for a period of two years and could be re-elected to the same posts only twice consecutively.