Less than two years after being made cardinal, Filipe Neri Cardinal Ferrao, the Archbishop of Goa and Daman, has been elected 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 completes a three-year term as the Head of the Asian Church.
The election was held in Bangkok, the capital of Thailand, on February 22, 2024 during the three-day FABC Central Committee Meeting.
Bishop Pablo Virgilio Siongco David of Kalookan, Philippines, was elected 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.
His new role includes the responsibility of fostering solidarity and co-responsibility among bishops for the welfare of the Church and society in Asia, which is the purpose of the FABC.
Cardinal Ferrao was ordained a priest on October 28, 1979, and was created a cardinal by Pope Francis in 2022. He is the sixth prelate of Goan origin to attain the rank, and continues to be the Archbishop of Goa and Daman.