MANILA (SE): Pope Francis named Jose Cardinal Advincula of Capiz, the Western Visayas, the Philippines, to be the new archbishop of Manila, in an announcement in Manila and at the Vatican on March 25, CNS reported.
The appointment fills the vacancy left by Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle in February 2020, when he was called to the Vatican to head up the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples..
The 68-year-old Cardinal Advincula is a human rights advocate and promoter of strong families .
CBCPNews reported on March 25 that the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) congratulated Cardinal Advincula on his appointment as the 33rd archbishop of Manila.
“We wish the archbishop-elect God’s abundant blessing in his new mission and offer him our continued prayers and support,” said
Cardinal Advincula was born on 30 March 1952, in Dumalag town in Capiz and was ordained a priest for the archdiocese in 1976.
He subsequently began his studies in psychology at the De La Salle University of Manila, and in canon law at the Pontifical and Royal University of Santo Tomas of Manila and at the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas-Angelicum in Rome, obtaining a licentiate in canon law, according to CBCPNews.
He worked in the seminaries of Vigan, Nueva Segovia and in the regional seminary of Jaro.
‘The Church cannot simply ignore human rights, because there is a moral dimension to them. The right to life, for example, is consistent with the church’s teaching that there is dignity in the human person’
Cardinal Advincula
In 1995, he was appointed rector of the St. Pius X Seminary of Capiz and became the Defender of the Bond, promoter of justice and finally judicial vicar of the archdiocese.
He then became parish priest of Saint Thomas of Villanueva in Dao in 1999.
The cardinal was appointed bishop of San Carlos in July 2001 and was transferred to Capiz in 2011 after the retirement of Archbishop Onesim Cordoncillo. In October last year, was made a cardinal by Pope Francis at a consistory on 28 November 2020.
Before the November consistory, he told Vatican News, “Poverty is one of the reasons why we have social problems” and that he saw education as “the way to develop the people so that they can earn more in order to live a more decent life.”
As we celebrate the 500 years of Christianity in the Philippines. The Chaplaincy to Filipino Migrants organises an on-line talk every Tuesday at 9.00pm. You can join us at:
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Cardinal Advincula has also been reported by UCAN as saying, “The Church cannot simply ignore human rights, because there is a moral dimension to them. The right to life, for example, is consistent with the church’s teaching that there is dignity in the human person.”
