the goan I network
PANAJI
Archbishop-Patriarch Filipe Neri Ferrao will meet Pope Francis as part of his “Ad Limina Apostolorum” visit in Rome later this month.
Archbishop Ferrao along with 44 other bishops from India will undertake the ‘Ad Limina’ visit between September 18 to 27.
Other bishops of Goan origin in the group include Cardinal Oswald Gracias and three of his Auxiliary Bishops John Rodrigues, Barthol Barretto and Savio Fernandes, Archbishop Anil Couto of Delhi, Bishop Agnelo Gracias, Apostolic Administrator of Jullundur and Bishops Lumen Monteiro of Agartala and Allwyn Barreto of Sindhudurg.
Some 200 bishops from India, in three separate groups, will conduct their respective visits between September 13 and October 3.
During his Ad Limina visit, Archbishop Ferrao is expected to visit different Dicasteries (Departments) of the Holy See, in connection with matters pertaining to his Archdiocese.
This is Archbishop Ferrao’s second ‘Ad Limina’ visit to the Pope as the Archbishop of Goa, with the previous visit having been in 2011,
when he, along with Archbishop-Emeritus Raul Gonsalves, had met Pope Benedict XVI.
Earlier, in the year 2003, then Auxiliary Bishop Filipe Neri had accompanied Patriarch Raul Gonsalves in their Ad Limina, when they met Pope Saint John Paul II.
Bishops all over the world undertake the obligatory Ad Limina visit to the Vatican at regular intervals. Such visits include a visit to the tombs of the Apostles, Saints Peter and Paul, and a meeting with the Pope for a report on their dioceses.
