Verghese V Joseph –
Vatican: Archbishop Filipe Neri Ferrão of Goa and Daman and the President of the Conference of Catholic Bishops of India (CCBI) and Archbishop Anthony Poola of Hyderabad, were installed as Cardinals by Pope Francis along with another 18 prelates in the Consistory held on Saturday, 27th August, 2022 at St. Peter’s Basilica, Vatican City.
The solemn celebration was attended by thousands of faithful from around the world and by a large number of people from India, particularly since the country gets two new Cardinals.
His Eminence Oswald Cardinal Gracias, Archbishop of Bombay, His Beatitude George Cardinal Alencherry, Major Archbishop of the Syro-Malabar Church, His Beatitude Baselios Cardinal Cleemis, Major Archbishop of the Syro-Malankara Church, Most Rev. Peter Machado, Archbishop of Bangalore, Most Rev. Jaya Rao Polimera, Bishop of Eluru, Most Rev. Joseph Raja Rao, SMM, Bishop of Vijayawada, Most Rev. Bernard Moras, Archbishop Emeritus of Bangalore, attended the ceremony.
The 20 new Cardinals represent the Church worldwide and reflect a wide variety of cultures, contexts and pastoral ministries. Seven of the newly-named Cardinals are from Europe, six from Asia, two from Africa, one from North America and four from Central and Latin America. Of the 20, 16 are cardinal electors under 80 years of age and thus eligible to participate in a Conclave. The College of Cardinals currently consists of 229 Cardinals, of which 131 are electors and 98 non-electors.
Cardinal Telesphore Toppo, Archbishop of Ranchi and Cardinal Oswald Gracias, Archbishop of Bombay, were made Cardinals during their tenure as Presidents of the CCBI, in 2003 and 2007, respectively. His Eminence Filipe Neri Cardinal Ferrão is the third CCBI President to be elevated to the Cardinalate.
He was the Chairman for the Youth Commission of the Telugu Regional Bishops’ Council, Chairman for Scheduled Castes/Backward Classes Commission, Chairman of the Andhra Pradesh Social Service Society, Secretary General and Treasurer of the Telugu Regional Bishops’ Council, Chairman of the Sikh Village Campus, Secretariat for TCBC Priests Community and Chairman of the Jeevan in-state Printing Press.
At the beginning of the Ordinary Public Consistory, the first of the new Cardinals, the Most Eminent Cardinal Arthur Roche, Prefect of the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, addressed to the Pope, on behalf of all, an address of homage and thanksgiving. Then after the prayer and the reading of a passage from the Gospel according to Luke (2: 49-50), the Holy Father gave the homily.
The Pope then read the formula of creation and solemnly proclaimed the names of the new Cardinals, announcing their presbyteral or diaconal Order.
The Rite continued with the profession of faith of the new Cardinals before the people of God and the oath of fidelity and obedience to Pope Francis and his successors.
The new Cardinals, according to the order of creation, knelt before the Holy Father who imposed on them the skullcap and the cardinal’s hat, gave them the cardinal’s ring and assigned to each one a church in Rome as a sign of participation in the pastoral care of the Pope in the City, giving them the Bull of creation of a cardinal and assignment of the Title or Diaconia.
After the delivery of the Bull of creation of a cardinal and of the assignment of the Title or Diaconia, the Holy Father Francis exchanged an embrace of peace with each new Cardinal.
Among the new Cardinals created this afternoon, HE Msgr.Richard Kuuia Baawobr, M. Afr., Bishop of Wa (Ghana) was not present.
At the end of the Ordinary Public Consistory for the creation of new Cardinals, the Most Eminent Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, Prefect of the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, went before the Holy Father, read the “Peroratio” and briefly presented the biographies of the two Blessed. Then the Pope, after having expressed the evaluation of the votes, decreed that the Blessed be enrolled in the Register of Saints on Sunday 9 October 2022.
Cardinal Filipe Neri António Sebastião do Rosário Ferrão, born on 20th January 1953, in Aldona, Goa, was ordained priest on 28th October 1979. Appointed Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Goa and Daman at the age of 40 by Pope John Paul II on 20th December, 1993, he received the Episcopal Ordination on the 10th of April, 1994. On 12th December, 2003, he was appointed the Archbishop of Goa and Daman and Patriarch “ad honorem” of the East Indies and installed on the 21st of March, 2004.
He was elected as the President of the Conference of Catholic Bishops of India, at its 31st Plenary Assembly, held in 2019 in Chennai. He had previously served both the CCBI and the CBCI as Vice-President. As the President of the CCBI, he is also a member of the Central Committee of the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences (FABC) having been the Chairman of the FABC Office of Education and Faith Formation (OEFF). He is fluent in Konkani, English, Portuguese, Italian, French and German.
Cardinal Anthony Poola, born on 15th November, 1961, at Chindhukur, Andhra Pradesh joined the minor seminary in Kurnool and subsequently studied at St. Peter’s Pontifical Major Seminary, Bangalore. He was ordained priest on 20th February, 1992. At the age of 46, he was appointed Bishop of Kurnool on 8th February, 2008 having received Episcopal Ordination on 19th April 2008. On 19th November, 2020, at the age of 59, he was appointed as the Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Hyderabad, being installed as its eleventh Archbishop on 3rd January, 2021.