Highest-ranking prelate named as Archbishop of Manila

After months of eager anticipation, the faithful in the Archdiocese of Manila learned from the Vatican the appointment last March 25 of Cardinal Jose Fuerte Advincula, Jr. as their new Archbishop. It coincided with the celebration of the Annunciation when it was announced to Mary that she would conceive and become the mother of Jesus Christ.

Advincula is one of only four Cardinals in the Philippine Catholic Church today. Cardinals Gaudencio Rosales and Orlando Quevedo are retired while Luis Antonio Tagle is presently serving as one of only 11 cardinal-bishops in the highest councils of Vatican governance. It is clear that Pope Francis chose Advincula, currently, the highest-ranking Catholic prelate in the country, to lead the Archdiocese of Manila in recognition of its strategic importance.

The Archdiocese of Manila covers the cities of Manila, San Juan, Mandaluyong, Makati and Pasay. As a metropolitan archdiocese, it also includes nine suffragan dioceses — Antipolo, Cubao, Imus, Caloocan, Malolos, Novaliches, Parañaque, Pasig and San Pablo — and together they constitute an ecclesiastical province that covers the entire National Capitol Region and the provinces of Rizal, Bulacan and Laguna and Cavite.