Pope names new Sorsogon bishop
Church • 16:30 PM Tue Oct 15, 2019
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By:
CBCP
SORSOGON - Pope Francis has appointed Fr. Jose Alan Dialogo of the Manila archdiocese as the new bishop of Sorsogon.
The bishop-elect will succeed Bishop Arturo Bastes, who reached the mandatory retirement age of 75 last April. He served the diocese for 16 years.
Dialogo’s appointment was made public by Bastes himself during the ordination of three men to the priesthood at the Sorsogon Cathedral on Tuesday morning.
The news was supposed to be announced in Rome at 12 noon today (6pm, Manila time) but Bastes sought permission from Papal Nuncio Archbishop Gabriele Caccia to announced it earlier.
Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle of Manila also announced the appointment during their clergy meeting at San Carlos Seminary in Makati City today.
Bastes said the bishop-elect originally hailed from Naga City so “he is a Bilocano himself and can speak our language at once”.
Dialogo is currently the Director of the Jaime Cardinal Sin Welcome Home, a facility for retired priests of Manila, in Sampaloc.
In the meantime, the pope has also appointed Bastes as Apostolic Administrator “sede vacante” of the diocese until Dialogo formally assumes his new post.
No date has been announced for the episcopal ordination of Dialogo and his installation as the fifth bishop of Sorsogon.