Panaji: Cardinal Filipe Neri Ferrão, the President of the Conference of Catholic Bishops of India (CCBI) and the Federation of Asian Bishops' Conferences (FABC), has been elected to the Ordinary Council of the General Secretariat of the Synod. This election took place on Wednesday, during the 15th General Congregation of the Synod of Bishops.
Earlier this month, on October 9, Pope Francis appointed Cardinal Ferrão to help draft the final document for the ongoing Synod on Synodality. The second session of the Synod started on October 2 and will conclude on October 27.
Alongside Cardinal Ferrão, other elected members of the Council include prominent bishops from around the world:
His Beatitude Youssef ABSI, Patriarch of Antioch of the Greek Melkites
Most Rev. Timothy John Costelloe, Archbishop of Perth, Australia
Most Rev. Daniel Ernest Flores, Bishop of Brownsville, USA
Most Rev. Alain Faubert, Bishop of Valleyfield, Canada
Cardinal Luis José Rueda Aparicio, Archbishop of Bogotá, Colombia
Most Rev. José Luis Azuaje Ayala, Archbishop of Maracaibo, Venezuela
Cardinal Jean-Marc Aveline, Archbishop of Marseille, France
Most Rev. Gintaras Grušas, Archbishop of Vilnius, Lithuania
Cardinal Dieudonné Nzapalainga, Archbishop of Bangui, Central African Republic
Most Rev. Andrew Fuanya Nkea, Archbishop of Bamenda, Cameroon
Most Rev. Pablo Virgilio S. David, Bishop of Kalookan, Philippines
The Ordinary Council of the General Secretariat is responsible for the preparation and implementation of the Ordinary General Assembly. The Members of the Ordinary Council take office at the end of the Ordinary General Assembly that elected them; they are Members of the next Ordinary General Assembly and cease their mandate at the dissolution of the latter. The Council, chaired by the Holy Father Pope Francis, is an integral part of the General Secretariat.
Cardinal Ferrão was appointed a Cardinal by Pope Francis on August 27, 2022. He has been the President of CCBI since 2019 and was re-elected in 2022.
