the goan I network
PANAJI
Archbishop of Goa and Daman Cardinal Filipe Neri Ferrão (69) was re-elected as President of the Conference of Catholic Bishops of India (CCBI) by the 33rd Plenary Assembly held at St John’s National Institute of Health Sciences, Bangalore.
Archbishop of Madras-Mylapore George Antonysamy (69) and Archbishop of Delhi Anil Joseph Thomas Couto (68) were also re-elected CCBI Vice President and Secretary General respectively.
Cardinal Ferrão 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 Archbishop Ferrão as Cardinal on August 27 and appointed him as the Cardinal-Priest of Santa Maria in Via. He was appointed as one of the members of the Dicastery for Evangelisation on October 7. He was the former Vice President of the CCBI from 2011 to 2017.
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.
CCBI consists of 132 dioceses and 190 Bishops of the Latin Catholic Church in India. The CCBI animates the Church in India through its 16 Commissions, 6 Departments and 4 Apostolates. Its main Secretariat is in Bangalore with extensions in Goa, Delhi and Pachmarhi (MP).
CCBI, which is the Canonical National Episcopal Conference, is the largest in Asia and the fourth largest in the world.
