MANILA (UCAN): Archbishop Oscar V. Cruz, retired archbishop of Lingayen-Dagupan, Pangasinan, the Philippines, and former CBCP president died on August 26 after losing a “lingering” battle with the Covid-19 coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2).
The 85-year-old succumbed to multiple organ failure at the Cardinal Santos Medical Centre in San Juan City, Metro Manila, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) announced.
Archbishop Cruz, was also a staunch critic of several Philippine presidents, including the incumbent, Rodrigo Duterte, speaking out against “structural” or “social sins.”
He was also a leading canon lawyer and served as judicial vicar of the CBCP national tribunal after he retired in 2009. He obtained his doctorate in canon law at the Lateran University in Rome.
In a 2015 interview, the archbishop predicted that then-presidential aspirant, Duterte, would be “worse than a dictator” if elected.
“Such a creature is dangerous, much more if he is chosen as the Philippines’ head of state or leader,” he said in an interview.
Less than a month after Duterte’s election, Archbishop Cruz called Duterte “a fool” after promising to eradicate illegal drugs in “just six months.”
In 2014, he called former president Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino “anti-Christian and unwise” for supporting a reproductive health law that legalised government procurement and distribution of contraceptives.
“His mother (former president Corazon Aquino) would receive a papal award. But here comes the son who is anti-Christian … He’s crossing thin ice … irresponsible. He has a sense of omnipotence, arrogance,” Archbishop Cruz said in an interview.
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Not even the Church hierarchy was spared when the archbishop commented on the way his fellow bishops handled sexual abuse cases involving clergymen.
In 2017, he spearheaded an investigation into priest Father Arnel Lagarejos, who was arrested for attempted sexual abuse when caught taking a 13-year-old girl to a Manila motel.
“As per experience, there are more cases of paedophilia. More of it,” the archbishop said in an interview.
Archbishop Cruz was born in Balanga, Bataan, in 1934 and ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Manila in 1962, CBCP News reported.
In 1976, he was appointed auxiliary bishop of Manila and worked with Jaime Cardinal Sin until he was named archbishop of San Fernando in 1978.
In 1991, he was appointed archbishop of Lingayen-Dagupan, a post he held for 18 years.
Archbishop Cruz also wrote 54 books, including the CBCP Guidelines on Sexual Abuse and Misconduct: A Critique, and Call of the Laity.
His successor in the Archdiocese of Lingayen-Dagupan, Archbishop Socrates Villegas, described him as a faithful shepherd and courageous prophet.
“The world is poorer (for) his passing away. Heaven has a new jewel. My tears flow. My heart is grateful that in this lifetime I met a great churchman like Archbishop Oscar V. Cruz,” Archbishop Villegas said.
Retired Bishop Arturo Bastes of Sorsogon, said Archbishop Cruz would be greatly missed.
“His outstanding qualities were recognised with his election as president of the CBCP for two terms and as president of the FABC(Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences), a large regional gathering of bishops, inaugurated by St. Pope Paul VI in 1970 in Manila. May Archbishop Cruz rest in peace,” Bishop Bastes said.
In a message read out during his funeral on August 28, at St. John the Evangelist Cathedral in his former diocese of Lingayen-Dagupan, Pope Francis Pope Francis expressed his sadness at the death of Archbishop Cruz and praised his “forthright witness to the gospel,” CBCPNews reported.
The pope sent assurances of his prayers to the archbishop’s family and to all who mourn his loss.
