PANAJI
Archbishop of Goa and Daman and patriarch of East Indies, Filipe Neri Ferrao, will be made Cardinal at a Consistory on August 27, Pope Francis announced at the Vatican on Sunday.
Ferrao is among two Indian bishops in the list of 21 who will be made new cardinals at the Consistory in August, the other being Archbishop Anthony Poola of Hyderabad. There are four more from Asia, eight from Europe, two from Africa, one from North America and four from Central and Latin America.
“On Saturday, 27 August, I will hold a consistory for the creation of new Cardinals. Let us pray that they will help me in my mission as Bishop of Rome for the good of all God's people,” Vatican News quoted Pope Francis as saying at the end of the Regina Coeli on Sunday.
Pope Francis also said he will meet with all the cardinals after the consistory to reflect on the new Vatican’s constitution which comes into effect on June 6
The College of Cardinals currently has 208, including 117 who are electors and 91 non-electors. On August 27 the strength will go up to 229 cardinals, 131 of them electors.
Of the 21 new cardinals, 16 will be electors who will be able to participate in the conclave that chooses Pope Francis’s successor eventually.
The other five will hold the title mostly honorarily, they being above the age of 80.
Meanwhile, the Goa Catholic church was elated with the news of Ferrao's designation as Cardinal with members of the clergy, laity and politicians taking to social media to congratulate the prelate.
In a statement, Fr Barry Cardozo, who heads the Diocesan Centre for Social Communication and Media, said: "It is with great pride and joy that we would like to inform you that Archbishop Filipe Neri António Sebastião di Rosário Ferrão, the Archbishop of Goa and Damão (India) has been chosen by Pope Francis to be made a Cardinal."
"As we, the Church of Goa and well-wishers, convey our heartfelt felicitations to the new Cardinal, we pray that God may guide and help him in the new responsibility that he has received at the service of the Universal Church, as a close collaborator of Pope Francis," Fr Cadozo added.
Ferrao (69) hails from Aldona and was ordained priest in 1979 and Bishop in 1994.
He remained Auxiliary Bishop of the Goa Archdiocese from 1994 to 2004 and was installed Archbishop-Patriarch of Goa and Daman on March 21, 2004.
In 2006, he was appointed Metropolitan and elected Chairman of the Western Region Committee for Catechetics in 2012 and Chairman of the FABC Office of Education and Faith Formation in January 2016.
Presently, he holds the responsibility of President of Conference of Catholic Bishops of India and is also member of the Central Committee of FABC since February 2019.
As cardinal from August, he is expected to continue to preside as Archbishop Patriarch of Goa and Daman.
