Pope meets India's Latin-rite bishops on their ad limina visit

(Sept. 01, 2011) A group of Latin-rite bishops from India’s western region on their ad limina visit met Pope Benedict XVI at Castelgandolfo on Thursday. The ad limina visit is a regular one, which heads of dioceses are required to make every five years to report on the state of their jurisdictions.
Among those who had private audiences with Pope Benedict on Thursday morning were - Cardinal Oswald Gracias, Archbishop of Bombay and his Auxiliary Bishop Agnelo Rufino Gracias; Archbishop Abraham Viruthakulangara of Nagpur, Archbishop Filipe Neri Ferrao of Goa and Daman and the retired Archbishop Raul Nicolau Gonsalves; Archbishop Stanislaus Fernandes of Gandhinagar and Archbishop Bernard Blasius Moras of Bangalore.
This year the ad limina visits to Rome of the Indian bishops began in March with the Syro-Malankara rite bishops, followed by those of the Syro-Malabar rite bishops. The ad limina visits of the Latin- rite bishops that began on Thursday will conclude on Saturday.