Pune/Panaji May 29 (PTI): Pope Francis' Sunday announcement that 21 churchmen, including two from India, will be elevated to the rank of cardinal in a ceremony at the Vatican this summer was greeted with great joy among the faithful in the country.
The two names from India the Pope announced are Filipe Neri Antonio Sebastao di Rosario Ferrao, Archbishop of Goa and Daman, and Anthony Poola, Archbishop of Hyderabad.
Senior journalist Camil Parkhe said the announcement is a great honour for the Indian Christian community and is also an acknowledgement of the presence of a significant number of Church institutions in this country as well as the role the Indian Church has to play in the Universal Catholic Church.
"This will be the first cardinal from Goa, which has a history of 450 years of Christianity, and may the first from Hyderabad (in Telangana) as well. The number of cardinals in the Catholic Church should be increased in proportion to the community's population in a country. This will facilitate election of an Indian as Pope in the future," Parkhe opined.
The Pope already had Cardinal Oswald Gracias as one of his advisers and the appointment of two more cardinals from India in the College of Cardinals will be welcomed by the faithful in the country, Parkhe said.
As per the Papal announcement, among the churchmen set to receive the prestigious red hat will be two prelates from India and one each from Mongolia, Ghana, Nigeria, Singapore, East Timor, Paraguay, and Brazil.
The Pope said he will conduct the consistory, as the ceremony to elevate churchmen to cardinal's rank is known, on August 27.
Father Ferrao was born in Aldona village near Panaji on January 20, 1953 and began his religious studies in the Seminary of Our Lady in Saligao and then went to the Papal Seminary in Pune, a senior official from the Archbishop's Palace in Panaji said.
He graduated in Philosophy and Theology and is fluent in Konkani, English, Portuguese, Italian, French and German, the official added.
Fr Ferrao was ordained as a priest on October 28, 1979 and, on December 12, 2003, he was consecrated as Archbishop of Goa and Daman by Pope John Paul II after the then Archbishop Rev Fr Raul Goncalves resigned.
Disclaimer: This story is auto-generated from news agency feeds and has not been edited by The Morung Express.
Source: PTI
