It is indeed a welcome news that, finally, Manila has a new archbishop in the person of Cardinal Jose Fuerte Advincula. As the country with the biggest population of Catholics in Asia, Manila is the largest archdiocese, with more than 80 parishes serving three million devotees. Pope Francis appointed Cardinal Advincula as archbishop, which was vacant for 15 months, when Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle was transferred to the Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples in the Vatican on Dec. 8, 2019.
In a profile, Cardinal Advincula’s most recent post was archbishop of the archdiocese of Capiz, the province where he was born in 1952. His high school study was spent at the Pius X Seminary High School in Roxas City. Eventually, he took up theology at the University of Santo Tomas.
His journey to priesthood started in 1970. From there, the young Advincula took studies in different schools such as UST and De La Salle University, and at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas-Angelicum in Rome, Italy, where he obtained a licentiate in Canon Law. He was ordained priest in 1976.
After his studies, he served in the seminaries of the Archdiocese of Nueva Segovia in Vigan, and in Jaro, Iloilo. In 1995, he returned back to his hometown where he became rector of the St. Pius X Seminary in Capiz, until he was appointed parish priest of the St. Thomas of Villanueva Church in the municipality of Dao.
At the start of the millennium, Pope John Paul II appointed him as bishop of San Carlos and after a decade, Pope Benedict XVI named him as archbishop of his native Archdiocese of Capiz. The next Pope then created him to become a cardinal at a consistory held in Nov. 28, 2020.
When Cardinal Advincula was formally installed as the 33rd archbishop of Manila on June 24, 2021, it came at an opportune time when we are all weary as the pandemic dragged on and there are fears of more virus variants and vaccine shortages. It is also a divisive episode in our history, when political winds are now shifting in preparation for the 2022 elections. Whether he is aware or not, Cardinal Advincula now has the “biggest” pulpit among all, and his words -- and influence -- would now carry a stronger meaning and a heavier weight.
As opposed to his role before in Capiz, his responsibility now in Manila is to shepherd the Catholics who are also facing their own tribulations. Because of the devastating pandemic, a lot have lost their livelihoods, businesses, and security in life; some even lost loved ones -- and in the process, they have also lost their faith in God. With a leader at the helm of the Archdiocese of Manila, may Cardinal Advincula find the ones who lost their way and shepherd them back to the right path.
We wish him well and pray for him as he leads the faithful in these most challenging of times. #