Filipe Neri António Sebastião do Rosário Ferrão (born 20 January 1953) is an Indian Catholic prelate who has served as Archbishop of Goa and Daman since 2004. He was previously an

auxiliary bishop An auxiliary bishop is a bishop assigned to assist the diocesan bishop in meeting the pastoral and administrative needs of the diocese. Auxiliary bishops can also be titular bishops of sees that no longer exist as territorial jurisdictions. ...

of the same archdiocese from 1993 to 2004. Ferrão was created a

cardinal Cardinal or The Cardinal most commonly refers to * Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds **''Cardinalis'', genus of three species in the family Cardinalidae ***Northern cardinal, ''Cardinalis cardinalis'', the common cardinal of ...

Pope Francis Pope Francis (born Jorge Mario Bergoglio; 17 December 1936 – 21 April 2025) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 13 March 2013 until Death and funeral of Pope Francis, his death in 2025. He was the fi ...

in 2022. Ferrão is the sixth prelate of

Goan Goans ( Romi Konkani: , ) is the demonym used to describe the people native to Goa, India, formerly part of Portuguese India (''Estado Português da Índia''). They form an ethno-linguistic group resulting from the assimilation of Indo-Aryan, ...

origin to attain the rank of cardinal and the first Archbishop of Goa and Daman to be a cardinal since an

episcopal see An episcopal see is the area of a bishop's ecclesiastical jurisdiction. Phrases concerning actions occurring within or outside an episcopal see are indicative of the geographical significance of the term, making it synonymous with ''diocese'' ...

was established there in 1557.

Biography

Early life and education

Ferrão was born on 20 January 1953 in

Mapusa Mapusa () is a city in North Goa, India. It is situated 13 km north of the state capital of Panaji. The city is the headquarters of Bardez taluka. It is located on the main highway NH-17, linking Mumbai to Kochi. During Portuguese Indi ...

, Goa, to Agostinho Lourenço Tomé Ferrão and Maria Palmira Eugênia Gertrudes da Conceição Nazaré; he is the youngest of their three children. After completing the Preparatory Course at the Minor Seminary of Our Lady, Saligao- Pilerne, Goa, he went to study philosophy and theology at the

Papal Seminary The Papal Seminary in Pune, India, is a Catholic educational institute whose primary function is training priests. Overview The seminary trains students from three Catholic particular churches and liturgical rites, particular churches in India ...

Pune Pune ( ; , ISO 15919, ISO: ), previously spelled in English as Poona (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1978), is a city in the state of Maharashtra in the Deccan Plateau, Deccan plateau in Western ...

. Ferrão was ordained a priest on 28 October 1979. His pastoral assignments were: Parochial Vicar at Salvador do Mundo in 1979 and in Chinchinim from 1981 to 1984; Prefect of Discipline at the Minor Seminary of Our Lady, Saligão-Pilerne, from 1984 to 1986, where he was also Director of the Vocation Commission for Diocesan Clergy. Ferrão then studied at the Pontificia Universitas Urbaniana, obtaining a licentiate degree in

Biblical Theology Because scholars have tended to use the term in different ways, Biblical theology has been notoriously difficult to define. The academic field of biblical theology is sub-divided into Old Testament theology and New Testament theology. Academic ...

in 1988, and then in

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

at the International Institute ''Lumen Vitae'', earning a licentiate degree in catechetics and

pastoral theology Pastoral theology is the branch of practical theology concerned with the application of the study of religion in the context of regular church ministry. This approach to theology seeks to give practical expression to theology. Normally viewed as ...

in 1991. Returning to Goa, he was the first director of the Diocesan Centre for Lay Apostolate from 1991 to 1994. There he launched the publication of booklets of daily scriptural reflections for the faithful: ''Daily Flash'' and ''Jivitacho Prokas''. His other assignments included Convenor of the Team for Transfers of Priests from 1992 to 1997; Ecclesiastical Advisor to St. Luke's Medical Guild, Goa, from 1992 to 1994, and Episcopal Vicar for the North Zone of the Archdiocese, from 1993 to 1994. He is fluent in

Konkani __NOTOC__ Konkani may refer to: Language * Konkani language is an Indo-Aryan language spoken in the Konkan region of India. * Konkani alphabets, different scripts used to write the language **Konkani in the Roman script, one of the scripts used to ...

, English, Portuguese,

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

and

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

Bishop and archbishop

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II (born Karol Józef Wojtyła; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 16 October 1978 until Death and funeral of Pope John Paul II, his death in 2005. In his you ...

appointed him auxiliary bishop of Goa and Daman and

titular bishop A titular bishop in various churches is a bishop who is not in charge of a diocese. By definition, a bishop is an "overseer" of a community of the faithful, so when a priest is ordained a bishop, the tradition of the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox an ...

of Vanariona on 25 January 1994. He received his episcopal consecration on 10 April 1994 from Archbishop Raul Nicolau Gonçalves in the

Se Cathedral The Sé Catedral de Santa Catarina, known as Se Cathedral, is the cathedral of the Latin Church Archdiocese of Goa and Daman and the seat of the Patriarch of the East Indies. It is part of the World Heritage Site, Churches and convents of G ...

Old Goa Old Goa (Konkani: ; ) is a historical site and city situated on the southern banks of the River Mandovi, within the Tiswadi ''taluka'' (''Ilhas'') of North Goa district, in the Indian state of Goa. The city was established by the Bijapur ...

, with bishops Aleixo das Neves Dias and Ferdinand Joseph Fonseca as co-consecrators. On 16 January 2004, Pope John Paul named him Archbishop of Goa and Daman with the honorary title of

Patriarch of the East Indies The Titular Patriarch of the East Indies (; for Titular Patriarchate of the East Indies) in the Catholic hierarchy is the title of the Archbishop of Goa and Daman in India; another of his titles is the Primate of the East. Unlike the patriarch ...

. He was installed as archbishop on 21 March 2004. On 25 November 2006, the Archdiocese of Goa and Daman was reorganized as a

metropolitan archdiocese A metropolis, metropolitanate or metropolitan diocese is an episcopal see whose bishop is the metropolitan bishop or archbishop of an ecclesiastical province. Metropolises, historically, have been important cities in their provinces. Eastern Ortho ...

with a suffragan diocese and no longer directly subject to the Holy See.

Pope Benedict XVI Pope BenedictXVI (born Joseph Alois Ratzinger; 16 April 1927 – 31 December 2022) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 19 April 2005 until his resignation on 28 February 2013. Benedict's election as p ...

named Ferrão its first archbishop.

Cardinal

On 29 May 2022, Pope Francis announced that he planned to make Ferrão a cardinal. On 27 August 2022, Pope Francis made him a

cardinal priest A cardinal is a senior member of the clergy of the Catholic Church. As titular members of the clergy of the Diocese of Rome, they serve as advisors to the pope, who is the bishop of Rome and the visible head of the worldwide Catholic Church. Ca ...

, assigning him the title of Santa Maria in Via. In February 2024, Ferrão was elected President of the Federation of Asian Bishops' Conferences replacing Cardinal

Charles Maung Bo Charles Maung Bo (, ; born 29 October 1948) is a Burmese Catholic prelate who has served as Archbishop of Yangon since 7 June 2003. He was created a cardinal by Pope Francis in 2015. Early life and education Bo was born on 29 October 1948, in ...

of Yangon, Myanmar. On 23 October 2024, the Synod of Bishops elected Ferrão a member of the Ordinary Council of the General Secretariat of the Synod. Ferrão participated as a

cardinal elector A cardinal is a senior member of the clergy of the Catholic Church. As titular members of the clergy of the Diocese of Rome, they serve as advisors to the pope, who is the bishop of Rome and the visible head of the worldwide Catholic Church. Ca ...

in the

2025 papal conclave A conclave was held on 7 and 8 May 2025 to elect a new pope to succeed Pope Francis, Francis, who had died on 21 April 2025. Of the 135 eligible Cardinal electors in the 2025 papal conclave, cardinal electors, all but two attended. Cardinal Piet ...

that elected

Pope Leo XIV Pope Leo XIV (born Robert Francis Prevost, September 14, 1955) has been head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State since May 2025. He is the first pope to have been born in the United States and North America, the fir ...

Notes

References

External links

* About the Archbishop Patriarch http://archgoadaman.com/about-the-archbishop-patriarch/ as on 3 March 2023 * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ferrao, Filipe Neri 1953 births People from Mapusa Patriarchs of the East Indies 20th-century Roman Catholic bishops in India 21st-century Roman Catholic archbishops in India Living people Pontifical Urban University alumni Indian cardinals Goan Catholics Cardinals created by Pope Francis