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Wednesday, March 15, 2006
Cebu archbishop asked by Pope, stays on
CEBU CITY -- Pope Benedict XVI wants Ricardo Cardinal Vidal to stay on as Archbishop as Cebu.
This was announced Tuesday at the Cebu Metropolitan Cathedral, where the prelate celebrated a mass to commemorate his 50th sacerdotal anniversary.
The letter, translated from Latin, was read by Bishop Julito Cortes of the Sto. Rosario Parish.
The pope greeted Vidal on his golden anniversary as priest and bestowed on him an apostolic blessing.
In another letter, Papal Nuncio Antonio Franco told Vidal "to continue in your ministry" until the Pope Benedict XVI "appoints a new pastor for the Archdiocese of Cebu."
"I have to accept it with much joy because that is the will of God," said Vidal, who earlier divulged that he wants to rest.
When the time comes that he is allowed to retire, Vidal hopes that his replacement will be a Cebuano.
"For me, it should be someone from the Visayas and, if possible, from Cebu," he said in a television interview.
Last February 6 when Vidal turned 75, which is the mandatory retirement age according to Canon Laws, he submitted his courtesy resignation letter to Franco.
Canon 354 states that "cardinals who head the departments and other permanent sections of the Roman Curia and of Vatican City, who have completed their seventy-fifth year, are requested to offer their resignation from office to the Roman Pontiff, who will consider all the circumstances and make provision accordingly."
Giovanni Bautista Cardinal Re, prefect of the Congregation of Bishops, received the letter and forwarded this to the Pope.
The faithful in the cathedral burst into applause as Bishop Cortes read the Pope's letter asking Vidal to remain as archbishop of Cebu.
Earlier in the day, Vidal welcomed President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) president Angel Lagdameo at the Archbishop's Palace.
No politics was discussed in the "purely social" visit, although the President reportedly wants to set a meeting with the bishops regarding questions on the "Hello Garci" tape that allegedly contains wiretapped conversations between Arroyo and former election commissioner Virgilio Garcillano in 2004.
The pastoral letter issued by the CBCP last Jan. 29 noted the "failure of political processes to make public servants accountable for wrongdoings."
"What we have seen instead are acts of evasion and obstruction of the truth, as in the case of the wiretapping and Garcillano tapes controversy," read the letter titled "Renewing Our Public Life Through Moral Values."
In an ABS-CBN TV Patrol interview, Lagdameo said, "We were not actually talking about politics at that time. We were just eating, greeting one another."
The President extolled Vidal's role as "voice of moderation amid national discord and for raising the standard of generosity at a time of poverty and difficulties."
In the same gathering Vidal pushed for a concerted effort of government and the Church to uplift the plight of the poor, said Ricardo Saludo, secretary of the cabinet during a press conference at the Malacañang sa Sugbo Tuesday.
Among those discussed in Tuesday's first cabinet meeting in Cebu is Arroyo's plan to hold a dialogue with the CBCP and to have projects that the Church and the government can jointly pursue to help the poor.
"Vidal has always been supportive of a dialogue," Saludo said.
The President was in Cebu for the opening of the Regional Interfaith Cooperation for Peace, Development and Human Dignity at the Shangri-la Mactan Island Resort. She paid Cardinal Vidal a visit during lunchtime at the Archbishop's Palace, after addressing some 200 religious leaders from 15 countries in Southeast Asia and Oceania.
Hundreds of priests also gathered at the MCWD auditorium Tuesday to celebrate the cardinal's anniversary.
Vidal led the discussion on the first encyclical letter of Pope Benedict XVI that delves on celibacy of priests.
It was also there that Vidal first admitted that his stint as Archbishop of Cebu has been extended by the Pope.
After the 5 p.m. mass Tuesday at the Metropolitan Cathedral, the faithful rushed to the altar to get blessings from Vidal and take pictures of him.
When he entered the cathedral, he was applauded at least three times.
Vidal was decreed cardinal by the late Pope John Paul II on May 25, 1985.
June 2006 is also the archbishop's anniversary as an adopted son of Cebu City.
He was proclaimed auxiliary bishop and coadjutor to the cardinal in Cebu on Aug. 22, 1981 after serving as archbishop of Lipa City. His 35th Episcopal anniversary is on November 30.
He was adopted on June 22, 1985 through a resolution by the late Cebu City mayor Ramon Duterte. (MEA/JGA/JPM of Sun.Star Cebu)
(March 15, 2006 issue)
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