THE election just four months away will be one of the topics the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) will take up during its 112th Plenary Assembly, which started yesterday.
Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma told reporters that aside from the 51st International Eucharistic Congress that will start tomorrow, members of the CBCP may tackle the creation of guidelines for the clergy and the Catholic laity during the May elections.
“For sure, we will expect that the discussion will focus on what’s relevant in our time. For sure, a statement will be issued for the upcoming elections,” Palma said.
Around 98 out of 131 bishops from different dioceses in the country are in Cebu for the CBCP’s first out-of-town plenary assembly.
To open the assembly, they celebrated mass at the Cebu Metropolitan Cathedral at 10 a.m. yesterday. Archbishop Giuseppe Pinto, apostolic nuncio to the Philippines, presided over the mass and read a letter from Pope Francis addressed to members of the CBCP.
In his letter, the Pope urged the CBCP to emphasize the need for the Church to spread God’s enduring love to everyone.
Before the mass ended, Pinto also administered the oath of the newly elected officers of the CBCP led by their reelected president, Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Socrates Villegas.
This is Villegas’ second and last term as president of CBCP.
Davao Archbishop Romulo Valles was also reelected as CBCP vice president. Palo, Leyte Archbishop John Du and Msgr. Marvin Mejia were also reelected as treasurer and secretary general, respectively.
Archbishop Palma was elected chairman of the CBCP’s Permanent Committee on International Eucharistic Congresses. Palma is currently the president of the 51st IEC in Cebu.
Since yesterday afternoon, the 112th plenary assembly of the CBCP has been held at the Oakridge Horizons.