2017-02-07 15:26:00

Cardinal Gracias re-elected to head Latin rite Indian bishops


Cardinal Oswald Gracias of Bombay was re-elected on Monday to head of Conference of Catholic Bishops of India (CCBI), the forum of Latin rite bishops in India, for another term of two years.

The re-election of Cardinal Gracias was the unanimous decision of more than 130 bishops attending the 29th plenary of the Latin rite bishops in Bhopal, said a press note.

However, other top officers, vice president Archbishop Philipe Neri Ferrao of Goa and secretary general Bishop Varghese Chakkalakal of Calicut were replaced. Archbishop George Antonysamy of Madras - Mylapore is new vice president and Archbishop Anil Joseph Thomas Couto of Delhi is new secretary general.

Cardinal Gracias is also the president of the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences as well as the Archbishop of Bombay.

Archbishop Antonysamy has served in the Vatican embassies in Gambia, Liberia and Sierra Leone and was in charge of d’Affaires of the Vatican Embassy in Jordan. In 2012 he was appointed the sixth archbishop of Madras-Mylapore archdiocese.

Archbishop Couto began his episcopal career as the auxiliary bishop of Delhi. He was then transferred to Jalandhar as its second bishop in 2007. He became the Delhi archbishop in 2012.

The newly elected office bearers were installed at a ceremony moderated by Archbishop Abraham Viruthakulangara of Nagpur.

The Indian prelates' eight-day plenary is scheduled to conclude on Feb. 8. (UCAN)








All the contents on this site are copyrighted ©.