Panaji: Archbishop of Goa and Daman Filipe Neri Cardinal Ferrao has been elected as the President of the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conference (FABC), the Goa Church said on Thursday.
In a media statement issued here, Fr. Barry Cardozo, Director of Diocesan Centre for Social Communications Media, a wing of Goa Church, has said that it is with great joy that the Church in Goa has received the news that our beloved Filipe Neri Cardinal Ferrao, the Archbishop of Goa and Daman, has been elected the President of the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences (FABC).
“He will succeed Cardinal Charles Muang Bo, the Head of the Catholic Church in Myanmar, in January 2025, after the latter’s completion of a three-year term as the Head of the Asian Church,” he said.
The election was held on February 22, during the three-day FABC Central Committee Meeting that took place in Bangkok, the capital of Thailand.
The Goa Church has said that Bishop Pablo Virgilio Siongco David of Kalookan, Philippines, was elected the Vice President, while Archbishop Tarcisio Isao Kilkuchi of Tokyo, Japan, was re-elected for a second term as the Secretary General of the Federation.
Currently, Cardinal Ferrao is the President of the Conference of Catholic Bishops of India (CCBI), the national body of the Bishops of the Latin Rite in our country.
“The FABC comprises Episcopal Conferences in South, Southeast, East and Central Asia. The Federation, which was founded in 1970, is a Vatican-approved association of Episcopal Conferences in Asia,” the Director said.
“As the Church in Goa and Daman congratulates Cardinal Ferrao on this wonderful occasion, we pray that the Almighty may help him to fulfil his new and challenging responsibility in fostering solidarity and co-responsibility among Bishops for the welfare of the Church and society in Asia, which is the purpose of the FABC,” he added.
