Cardinal Filipe Neri Ferrão (69), Archbishop of Goa and Daman was re-elected as the President of the Latin Conference of Catholic Bishops of India (CCBI) by the 33rd Plenary Assembly held at St. John’s National Institute of Health Sciences, Bangalore from 11 to 12 November 2022.
India has three different Catholic churches (rites) each of which has a separate Bishops' Conference and there is the national conference of the three churches together called the Catholic Bishops Conference of India (CBCI).
Archbishop George Antonysamy (69) of Madras- Mylapore and Archbishop Anil Joseph Thomas Couto (68), of Delhi, were also re-elected CCBI Vice President and Secretary General respectively.
Cardinal Filipe Neri was elected first time in 2019 by the 31st Plenary Assembly held in Chennai and replaced Cardinal Oswald Gracias of Bombay. Archbishop George Antonysamy and Archbishop 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 Filipe Neri Ferrão was born on January 20, 1953 and ordained 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 “ad honorem” of the East Indies and installed as Archbishop on March 21, 2004.
Archbishop George Antonysamy (69), held various responsibilities of the Catholic Church in the past, viz. 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 priest on November 19, 1980 for the diocese of Trichy.
Abp. George was 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, Bangalore from 2020 onwards. Pope Francis appointed him as one of the members of members 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 10 November 2022. The CBCI is the Assembly of the Indian Catholic Bishops of Latin, Syro Malabar and Syro Malankara Churches.
Archbishop Anil Joseph Thomas Couto was born on September 22, 1954 and was ordained priest on February 8, 1981. He was appointed Auxiliary Bishop of Delhi January 17, 2001 and ordained Bishop on March 11, 2001. He was appointed Bishop of Jalandhar on February 24, 2007 and installed as Bishop of Jalandhar on April 16, 2007. He was appointed Archbishop of Delhi on November 30, 2012 and installed as Archbishop of Delhi on January 20, 2013.
According to the Statutes of the CCBI the President, the Vice President and the Secretary General are elected for a period of two years and may be re-elected to the same posts only twice consecutively.
Rev. Dr. Stephen Alathara
Deputy Secretary General, CCBI
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