Cardinal Filipe Neri Ferrão officially assumes office as new FABC President

On 1 January 2025, Cardinal Filipe Neri Ferrão officially assumed his role as the President of the Federation of Asian Bishops' Conferences. The President of the Conference of Catholic Bishops of India (CCBI) and Archbishop of Goa succeeds Cardinal Charles Maung Bo of Myanmar who had served two terms.

By Deborah Castellano Lubov

Cardinal Filipe Neri Ferrão, the President of the Conference of Catholic Bishops of India and the Archbishop of Goa, officially assumed office as the President of the Federation of Asians Bishops' Conferences (FABC), on 1 January 2025.

He succeeded Cardinal Charles Muang Bo, SDB, the President of the Episcopal Conference of Myanmar and Archbishop of Yangon, who had served as President for two three-year terms.

New Leadership

Cardinal Ferrão was elected the new FABC President at the last Central Committee Meeting held in Bangkok on 22 February 2024.

Cardinal Pablo Virgilio David of Kallokan, Philippines, is now serving as FABC Vice President, while Cardinal Tarcisio Kikuchi of Tokyo is again serving as FABC Secretary General.

FABC

The Federation, which comprises Bishops of South, Southeast, East and Central Asia, gathers members of 15 Asian Catholic Bishops’ Conferences, including those of of Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, Malaysia-Singapore-Brunei, Indonesia, Timor Leste, Philippines, Korea, Japan, as well as the Bishops’ Conference of Central Asia and the Chinese Regional Bishops’ Conference.

In addition, there are also ‘Associate Members,’ like the Bishops of Macau, Hong Kong, Mongolia, Nepal and Novosibirsk.

The Federation includes all the Bishops of India, numbering 277 in total, belonging also to the Latin, Syro-Malabar and Syro-Malankara Churches.

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