Bangalore, Jan 5: Indian Cardinal Filipe Neri Ferrão has been elected as the new President of the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences (FABC), an important position as the head of the Asian Church taking charge on 1st January 2025, from Cardinal Charles Muang Bo, SDB, the President of the Episcopal Conference of Myanmar.
Cardinal Ferrão, the President of the CCBI and the Archbishop of Goa was elected the President of the FABC at the last Central Committee Meeting held in Bangkok on February 22, 2024. The FABC comprises Bishops of South, Southeast, East and Central Asia.
The Asian Federation includes all the Bishops of India, 277 in total, belonging also to the Latin, Syro-Malabar and Syro-Malankara Churches. Besides, it gathers members of 15 Asian Catholic Bishops’ Conferences, namely, of Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, Malaysia-Singapore-Brunei, Indonesia, Timor Leste, Philippines, Korea, Japan, the Bishops’ Conference of Central Asia and the Chinese Regional Bishops’ Conference. There are also ‘Associate Members,’ like the Bishops of Macau, Hong Kong, Mongolia, Nepal and Novosibirsk (Russia).
Bishop Pablo Virgilio David of Kallokan, Philippines, was elected the Vice President, while Archbishop Tarcisio Kikuchi of Tokyo was re-elected as the Secretary General of the Federation for a second term. Both of them were made Cardinals by Pope Francis during the last Ordinary Consistory held at the Vatican on the 7th of December, 2024.
