Four Indian Cardinals Eligible To Vote For Next Pope; Goa's Filipe Neri Ferrao Tipped As Dark Horse

Of the six Cardinals from India, four of  will be eligible to vote in the conclave to elect the next Pope. 

Cardinals are senior members of the clergy who serve as advisors to the Pipe and also form the Electoral College that elects the next Pope.

Archbishop of Goa, Daman, and Diu, Cardinal Filipe Neri Ferrao; head of the Syro-Malabar branch of the Roman Catholic Church, Cardinal Baselios Cleemis; the Syro-Malabar Church's Jacob Koovakad; and the Archbishop of Hyderabad, Cardinal Anthony Poola, the first Dalit to hold the post, are among the 138 of the 253 Cardinals who will vote in the conclave. They are also possible candidates for the papacy. Former Archbishop of Bombay, Oswald Gracias, who voted in the conclave to elect Pope Francis, and George Alencherry, an Archbishop  Emeritus, cannot vote because they are over 80, the age limit for electors.

The Catholic Secular Forum (CSF), a Mumbai based activist community organisation, said that Catholics will now have a new leader and Goa's Cardinal Filipe Neri Ferrao will be one of the electors from India and it would not be surprising if he emerges as a dark horse. 

"Cardinal Neri is also president of the Federation of Asian Bishops Conferences and after all, Pope Francis was the first from Latin America. A Cardinal from Asia now will give representation to the region which has contributed much to the global Catholic church," said Joseph Dias, CSF founder and general secretary.