Bishop of Vasai

Archbishop Felix Machado

• Archbishop Dr. Felix Machado, born in Vasai on 6th June 1948, Completed Schooling in Vasai.
• He successfully completed his studies in Indian and Western Philosophy from St. Pius X College (Archdiocesan Major Seminary), Goregaon, Mumbai (1973); Licentiate in Christian Theology from the Catholic Faculty of Theology, Lyon, France (1976); Diploma in the Third World Theologies from Maryknoll School of Theology, New York, U. S. A. (1979); Master of Arts in Christian Theology from Maryknoll School of Theology, New York, U. S. A. (1980); Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), from Fordham University, New York, U. S. A. (1984).
• He was Faculty Staff at Hofstra University, Hempstead, long Island, U. S. A. (1980-84); He taught Indian Philosophy and Systematic Dogmatic Theology in St. Pius X College, (The Archdiocesan Seminary) Goregaon, Mumbai, (1985- 1993); he taught Christianity at K.J. Somaiya Bhartiya Sanskriti Peetham, Mumbai (1991). Numerous articles in various Indian and foreign journals of philosophy and theology in various languages such as Marathi, English, French and Italian are to his credit. He was also the editor of ‘Pro Dialogue’ a Vatican publication for dialogue with religions. Archbishop Dr. Felix Machado’s mother tongue is Marathi (spoken by 100 million people in Maharashtra) and he is well versed in other Indian and foreign languages.
• He was Undersecretary at the Pontifical Council for Inter Religious Dialogue (Pope’s Office) at the Vatican City.
• Archbishop Dr. Machado has participated and continues to participate in International Seminars and Conferences in different countries of the World and delivered key-note addresses, major talks, conferences, etc. ‘Path to Liberation’ and ‘Journeying together’ are two of his books in English (the latter is also published in Italian and French by the same Vatican Press).
• He was appointed as Bishop of the Diocese of Nasik (with personal title of Archbishop) on 16th January 2008 by Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI and ordained bishop on 8th March 2008 in Nashik, India.
• Presently he is the Archbishop – Bishop of the diocese of Vasai since 19th December 2009.
• He has been Chairperson for Office of Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs (OEIA) of Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences (FABC) for two consecutive terms. He has been Chairperson for Office of Interreligious Dialogue and the Desk for Ecumenism of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI), and Chairperson for Commission of Ecumenism of Conference of Catholic Bishops’ of India (CCBI).
• He was President of the Western Region Bishops’ Council (WRBC) for two consecutive terms.
• He is the Secretary General of Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI) from February 2020.
• He is a new member to Pontifical Council for Inter-religious Dialogue appointed by Pope Francis on 8th July 2020.