Cardinal Filipe Neri Ferrão has been re-elected as the President of the Conference of Catholic Bishops of India (CCBI), while Archbishop Peter Machado of Bangalore has been elected as the Vice President and Archbishop Vincent Aind of Ranchi as Secretary General.
The elections took place during the 36th Plenary Assembly of the CCBI at XIM University, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India.
Cardinal Ferrão was first elected the President at the 31st Plenary Assembly held in Chennai in 2019. He was re-elected for a second term in 2023 at the 34th Plenary Assembly in Bangalore. In addition to his leadership in India, he also serves as the President of the Federation of Asian Bishops' Conferences (FABC), an office he assumed in January 2025.
He is also the member of the Dicastery for Evangelisation and the Secretariat for the Synod of Bishops.
Born on January 20, 1953, in Aldona, Goa, he was appointed Titular Bishop of Vanariona and Auxiliary Bishop of Goa and Damão on January 25, 1994.
A decade later, on January 16, 2004, Pope St. John Paul II named him Archbishop of Goa and Damão. Installed as Archbishop on March 21, 2004, he was later created a Cardinal by Pope Francis on August 27, 2022, with the Title of Santa Maria in Via. Cardinal Ferrão is also a member of the Dicastery for Evangelization and the Synod Secretariat.
Archbishop Peter Machado was born on May 26, 1954, and ordained a priest on December 8, 1978, for the Diocese of Karwar.
He holds a doctorate in Canon Law from the Pontifical Urban University, Rome. He was appointed Bishop of Belgaum on February 2, 2006, and ordained on March 30, 2006. He was later appointed Archbishop of Bangalore on March 19, 2018, and installed on May 31, 2018.
He currently serves as the President of the Karnataka Regional Bishops’ Council and the Chairman of the CCBI Commission for Laity.
Archbishop Vincent Aind was born on January 30, 1955, in Kalchini, West Bengal, in the Diocese of Jalpaiguri. Ordained a priest on April 30, 1984, he holds a master’s degree in English Literature, a bachelor’s degree in economics, a Licentiate in Philosophy from Jnana Deepa Vidyapeeth, Pune, and a Doctorate in Philosophy from the Pontifical Gregorian University, Rome.
He was appointed Bishop of Bagdogra on April 7, 2015 and ordained on June 14, 2015. Archbishop Aind is also the Chairman of the CCBI Commission for Theology and Doctrine. On December 30, 2023, he was appointed Archbishop of Ranchi. -Stephen Alathara
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