ASIA/INDIA - Appointment of auxiliary bishop of Goa and Damão

Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) - The Holy Father has appointed the Reverend Simiao Purificaçao Fernandes of the clergy of Goa and Damão, India, until now director of the Saint Pius X Pastoral Institute, as auxiliary bishop of the same archdiocese, assigning him the titular see of Salde.
Msgr. Simiao Purificaçao Fernandes was born on 21 December 1967 in Chandor, in the archdiocese of Goa and Damão. He studied philosophy and theology at the Patriarchal Seminary in Rachol, and was ordained a priest on 10 May 1993 for the archdiocese of Goa and Damão.
After ordination, he first held the role of deputy parish priest of Saint Thomas in Aldona (1993-1996) and Saint Michael in Taleigao (1996-1998). After obtaining a licentiate in sacred Scripture from the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome and a doctorate in biblical theology from the Jnana Deepa Vidyapeeth in Pune, he went on to serve as visiting professor in sacred Scripture at the Patriarchal Seminary in Rachol (2005-2018), administrator of the Holy Family parish in Marcela (2006-2013), director of the Saint Pius X Pastoral Institute of the archdiocese of Goa and Damão and head of the Apostolate for Ecumenism (since 2018), and coordinator of the ongoing formation of the clergy and coordinator of the diocesan phase of the Synod (since 2023). (Agenzia Fides, 6/4/2024)