PH cardinal gets 1 of 7 top sees in Rome
Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle formally took possession of one of the seven suburbicarian bishoprics in Rome, the Diocese of Albano, usually conferred on the highest-ranking officials of the Church.
According to CBCP News, the media service of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines, the ceremony held at the Albano Cathedral was attended by a large group of Filipinos, Tagle’s family and residents of the Pontificio Collegio Filipino, or the college of Filipino priests in Italy.
The suburbicarian Diocese of Albano is one of the seven historic sees surrounding Rome that are traditionally assigned to the highest-ranking officials of the Church. While the Cardinal Bishop holds the title, the diocese maintains its own administrative lead.
A decree issued by Pope Leo XIV on May 24 appointed Tagle to the new ecclesiastical office.
“Since the title of the ancient and illustrations Suburbicarian See of Albano is vacant, and when the dearly beloved Roman Pontiff Francesco passed, we were elected through divine will to this Chair of St. Peter, it is our will to assign it to you with great joy, our Venerable Brother, of whom we know well the extraordinary intellectual gifts, sensibility, competence, wisdom, fidelity, and zealous industriousness, in carrying out the delicate office of Pro-Prefect of the Dicastery for Evangelization,” a portion of the decree read, which was shared by the Filipino pontifical college on its Facebook page.
The CBCP News noted that the diocese was assigned to then Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, who was scheduled to take possession last May 10, but he was elected as pope last May 8.
