DomFilipe Neri António Sebastião do Rosário Ferrão (born 20 January 1953) is an Indian prelate of the Catholic Church. He has served as Archbishop of Goa and Daman since 2004, and previously as an auxiliary bishop of the same archdiocese from 1993 to 2004. Ferrão was created a cardinal by Pope Francis in 2022. He is the sixth prelate of Goan origin to attain the rank,[1] but the first to be concurrently Archbishop of Goa and Daman since an episcopal see was established there in 1557.[2]
Biography
Early life and education
Ferrão was born on 20 January 1953 in Mapusa, Goa, to Agostinho Lourenço Tomé Ferrão and Maria Palmira Eugênia Gertrudes da Conceição Nazaré; he is the youngest of their three children.[3][a] 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, Pune. Ferrão was ordained a priest on 28 October 1979.[4] 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.[5]
Returning to Goa, he was the first director of the Diocesan Centre for Lay Apostolate from 1991 to 1994.[5] There he launched the publication of booklets of daily scriptural reflections for the faithful: Daily Flash and Jivitacho Prokas.[citation needed] 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.[5]
On 29 May 2022, Pope Francis announced that he planned to make Ferrão a cardinal.[9] On 27 August 2022, Pope Francis made him a cardinal priest, assigning him the title of Santa Maria in Via.[10]