Pope Francis has appointed Bishop Julius Tonel of the Diocese of Ipil as the new archbishop of the Archdiocese of Zamboanga.
According to the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines, Bishop Tonel will succeed the late Archbishop Romulo de la Cruz, who passed away from an illness at the age of 74 on Dec. 10, 2021.
The archdiocese has been under the care of Auxiliary Bishop Moises Cuevas of Zamboanga as apostolic administrator.
Born on Aug. 31, 1956 in Davao City, the newly appointed archbishop of Zamboanga studied Philosophy at the Saint Francis Xavier Regional Major Seminary of Mindanao (SFX-REMASE) and Theology at the University of Santo Tomas Central Seminary in Manila.
Ordained priest on April 12, 1980 for the Archdiocese of Davao, the prelate also served as Vicar General and Rector of SFX-REMASE.
Bishop Tonel also holds a licentiate degree in Liturgical Theology from the Pontifical Institute of Sacred Liturgy in Rome, Italy.
The late Pope Benedict XVI appointed him as prelate of then Prelature of Ipil on June 30, 2007. He was ordained to the episcopate on Aug. 20 of the same year.
After the prelature was elevated to a diocese on May 1, 2010, Tonel became its first bishop.