Sulu prelate named member of Rome-based inter-religious panel

AN OFFICIAL of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) currently based in Sulu has been officially named as member of the Pontifical Council for Inter-religious Dialogue that is based in Rome.

According to CBCP News, the appointment of Jolo Bishop Angelito Lampon was made last Saturday and was announced through the Vatican Information Service (VIS).

The official news agency of the CBCP added that Lampon believes that the main reason for his appointment is his assignment as Vicar Apostolic of Jolo since 1977.

“It’s so happened that I’ve been working in areas, where 97 percent of the populations are Tausug, Badjao, and Samal,” Lampon told CBCP News.

Lampon is also the current chair of the Commission on Inter-religious Dialogue of the CBCP.

As member of the council, Lampon said he may attend the Council’s one or two meetings and receive regular correspondence from Rome on matters that need consensus from the other members.

The council will be led by Cardinal Fernando Filoni, who is the prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples and once served as Apostolic Nuncio to the Philippines from February 25, 2006 until his appointment as Substitute to the Secretariat of State in June 9, 2007.

The other appointees include Archbishop Peter Takeo Okada of Tokyo, Japan; Archbishop Jean Benjamin Sleiman O.C.D. of Baghdad of the Latins, Iraq; Archbishop Daniel J. Bohan of Regina, Canada; Archbishop Salvatore Fisichella, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting New Evangelisation; Bishop Michel Dubost C.I.M. of Evry-Corbeil-Essonnes, Bishop Francesco Biasin of Barra do Pirai-Volta Redonda, Brazil; Bishop Joseph Chusak Sirisut of Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand; Bishop Sebastian Francis Shah O.F.M., auxiliary of Lahore, Pakistan; Bishop Michael Didi Adgum Mangoria, coadjutor of El-Obeid, Sudan; Bishop Tomo Vuksic, military ordinary of Bosnia Herzegovina, and Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah of Sokoto, Nigeria.

Meanwhile, Pope Benedict XVI has appointed Bishop Rodolfo Beltran of the Bontoc-Lagawe diocese as the new head of the Diocese of San Fernando in La Union.

In a report by CBCP News, the 63-year-old bishop’s appointment was made public in the Vatican on Tuesday at 12 noon (7 p.m. Manila time).

“The San Fernando diocese has been without a prelate for nearly a year after Bishop Artemio Rillera, a missionary from the Society of the Divine Word, passed away last November 2011,” it reported.

Beltran was born on November 13, 1948 in Gattaran, Cagayan.

He was ordained a priest on March 25, 1976 in Gattaran, Cagayan also.

On March 18, 2006, the Holy Father had appointed him Vicar Apostolic of Bontoc-Lagawe before he was eventually ordained as bishop on May 16, 2006 at St. Peter's Cathedral in Tuguegarao, Cagayan.

He was formally installed Apostolic Vicar of Bontoc-Lagawe, which covers two civil provinces of Ifugao and the Mountain Province, on May 29, 2006.

No date has been set for the installation of Beltran as the fifth bishop of San Fernando, La Union. (HDT/Sunnex)