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Church News: Most Recent Content

  • Panlilio to quit priesthood should he run in 2010

    MANILA, March 31, 2009—Amid calls for him to choose between the priesthood and politics, Pampanga Gov. Ed Panlilio said he will quit from priesthood should he decide to run for president in 2010.
    Panlilio, a Catholic priest-turned politician, said he has no choice but to ask for dispensation to end dispute over his priestly status.

  • After dialogue with bishops, House to pass CARP extension bill

    MANILA, April 3, 2009— House Speaker Prospero Nograles assured the immediate passage of the bill extending the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) by June.
    After the dialogue last Thursday between lawmakers, Catholic bishops and some farmers, Nograles said they are committed to pass the bill with appropriate reforms.

  • Church to intensify fight vs RH bill passage by June

    MANILA, April 3, 2009— As the deliberation of the Reproductive Health (RH) bill in Congress nears end, expect more dirt, Catholic Church officials said. San Fernando Archbishop Paciano Aniceto claimed local government officials will be “manipulated” to add support to the proposed measure. “They will try to get in the provincial and municipal level. They will influence the governors and mayors to promote the same bill in the LGUs,” he said.

  • Country’s oldest bishop dies at 93

    MANILA--The country ’s oldest Catholic prelate, Bishop Manuel P. Del Rosario, emeritus of Malolos and a Bikolano, passed away at 1:00 A.M. today, at age 93.
    Del Rosario has been confined to a wheelchair since he was paralyzed due to a stroke in 1963 while attending the conferences of the Second Vatican Council in Rome. The prelate died of pneumonia at Yanga Hospital in Bocaue, Bulacan according to his nephew newly-appointed SEC Commissioner Manuel B. Gaite.
    “He is the country’s last living bishop ordained under Vatican I,” said Commissioner Gaite, a former seminarian.

  • PPCRV readies against ‘automated poll fraud’

    MANILA--President Gloria Arroyo’s aproval of the poll automation bill into law has given a Catholic Church-back poll watchdog a leeway to focus more on intensive voters’ education.
    The Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) said it is all systems go for the automation of the electoral system (AES) now that the P11.3 billion supplemental budget has been approved.
    Their next step, PPCRV national chairperson Henrietta de Villa said, is to make sure that voters are well informed about the poll automation.

  • Libmanan is newest diocese

    MANILA--Pope Benedict XVI has created Wednesday a new diocese in the country and named its first bishop.
    Benedict XVI elevated the Prelature of Libmanan into a full diocese, in the province of Camarines Sur, and appointed as its bishop, Jose Rojas, 52, until now Bishop-Prelate of said ecclesiastical territory.
    The announcement was made by Archbishop Edward Joseph Adams, Pope’s envoy to the Philippines, in a letter sent to the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP).

  • Bishops Renew Opposition to Charter Change

    MANILA--Catholic Church leaders once again called on lawmakers Friday to ditch plans to amend the country’s constitution. Cebu Archbishop Ricardo Cardinal Vidal said there’s time for Charter change and it should not be done with haste.
    He said a thorough review of the measure, which according to its proponents at the House of Representatives, only seeks to revise the economic provisions of the constitution.

  • KC holds 'walk for life'

    MANILA--In a show of solidarity with the Church’s ongoing resistance against the passage of RH bill, the Knights of Columbus (KC) held a rally for life dubbed ‘Walk for Life’ last Saturday, March 21.
    The event drew a large crowd of participants as members of various KC units in different dioceses came in full force.
    KC State Secretary of Luzon Jurisdiction Arsenio Isidro Yap said they want to emphasize through the march the importance of protecting all phases of life and to make their voices heard regarding their stand on the bill.

  • Focolare observes death anniversary of founder

    MANILA--Members and friends of Focolare have observed the first death anniversary of Focolare founder, Chiara Lubich through a Eucharistic celebration and a book launch of her writings. Papal Nuncio to the Philippines, Archbishop Edward Joseph Adams led the memorial Mass together with His Eminence Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales, other bishops and clergy of the Archdiocese of Manila at the Manila Cathedral on March 13.
    Bishop-emeritus of Alaminos Most Reverend Jesus A. Cabrera, during his homily, described Lubich as a woman full of love for God, for men and for the Church.

  • Caceres launches podcasts to spread the Word

    MANILA--The Gospel may be 2,000 years old, but the
    Catholic Church is grateful to new Internet-driven technologies for aiding their work of spreading the Scripture.
    The Archdiocese of Caceres has recently launched a new weekly “podcast” of Sunday homilies aimed at reaching Catholic Filipinos working abroad. Podcasts are like an audio broadcast but aimed at—or subscribed to by—specific audiences. The audio can be accessed live or downloaded for listening at a more convenient time.