Bishops Visit Newly Renovated CCBI General Secretariat in Delhi

New Delhi, 12 September 2025 (CCBI): Forty-five bishops who attended the CCBI Executive Committee and CBCI Standing Committee meetings paid a courtesy visit to the newly renovated CCBI General Secretariat at Bhai Vir Singh Marg, New Delhi, on Thursday, 11 September 2025.

The delegation was led by Cardinal Filipe Neri Ferrão, President of the CCBI and FABC, along with Cardinal Anthony Poola of Hyderabad, Mar Raphael Thattil, Major Archbishop of the Syro-Malabar Church, Archbishop Peter Machado, Vice President of the CCBI, and Archbishop Vincent Aind, Secretary General of the CCBI.

The bishops were warmly received by Rev. Dr. Stephen Alathara, Deputy Secretary General of the CCBI, Rev. Dr. Christopher Vimalraj, Associate Deputy Secretary General, Adv. Fr. Jaison Vadassery, Secretary of the Commission for Migrants, Fr. Chetan Machado, Secretary of the Commission for Youth, and Fr. Gangula Vignan Das, Associate Director of Communio.

The Secretariat, which underwent extensive renovation, was blessed and inaugurated on 3 June 2025 by Cardinal Filipe Neri Ferrão in the presence of His Excellency Leopoldo Girelli, Apostolic Nuncio to India and Nepal.

The CCBI Secretariat was first established in Goa in 1988 and relocated to Delhi in 1992. It found its permanent home at Bhai Vir Singh Marg in 1995 during the presidency of Cardinal Simon Pimenta of Bombay and under the leadership of Fr. S. Arulsamy, then Deputy Secretary General.

In 2002, the Bangalore Secretariat was inaugurated and became the base for the Deputy Secretary General in 2003. In 2025, the headquarters of the Latin Catholic Church in India returned to the national capital.

Today, the CCBI operates secretariats in New Delhi, Faridabad, Bangalore, Bhopal, and Goa, with 34 Secretaries coordinating its commissions and offices across the country.

Dr. Stephen Alathara