India’s Latin rite bishops re-elect officials to national body

Cardinal Oswald Gracias has been re-elected the president of the Conference of the Catholic Bishops of India (CCBI), at its ongoing 27th Plenary Assembly in Bangalore.  The other officials re-elected to the national episcopal body of the Latin Catholic Bishops are Archbishop Filipe Neri Ferrao of Goa and Daman as Vice President, and Bishop Varghese Chakkalakal of Calicut as Secretary General. One hundred and forty bishops from 131 Latin rite dioceses holding their Plenary Assembly, Feb. 3-9, on the theme ‘Liturgy and Life’ decided to keep the same officials at the leadership of CCBI.  Cardinal Gracias, Archbishop of Bombay, is also the president of the Federation of Asian Bishops' Conferences (FABC) and one of the eight-members of the Council of the Cardinal Advisers of Pope Francis.

The Conference of Catholic Bishops of India (CCBI) is the largest Catholic Bishops' Conference in Asia and the fourth largest in the world, after Brazil, Italy and the US.   The CCBI along with the eastern-rite Syro-Malabar and Syro-Malankara Catholic Churches of India form the apex body of the Catholic Church in India known as the Catholic Bishops Conference of India (CBCI), headquartered in New Delhi.   (Source: CCBI)