Pope names Pabillo as new Apostolic Vicar of Taytay

MANILA, Philippines — Pope Francis has appointed Auxiliary Bishop of Manila Broderick Pabillo as the Apostolic Vicar of Taytay in Palawan province, the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) said Tuesday.

The Pope also named Rev. Fr. Noel Pedregosa, who serves as the Diocesian Administrator of Malaybalay in Bukidnon province, as the Bishop of Malaybalay.

The appointment of Pabillo and Pedregosa was made public in Rome on Tuesday noon (6 p.m. Philippine time), the CBCP said in a Twitter post.

In Manila, the appointments were announced by Papal nuncio Archbishop Charles Brown before Mass for the Feast of Sts. Peter and Paul at the Manila Cathedral.

Pabillo will replace Bishop Edgardo Juanich who resigned in 2018 due to health reasons.

In February 2020, Pope Francis appointed Pabillo as the Apostolic Administrator of the Archdiocese of Manila after Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle left for Rome to assume his new post as prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples.

Pabillo was ordained a priest of the Salesians of St. John Bosco by Cardinal Jaime Sin in 1982.

In 2006, Pope Benedict XVI appointed him Auxiliary Bishop of Manila, a post he held for almost 15 years now.

CBCP said Pabillo is not new to Palawan as he was a parish priest at the St. Ezequiel Moreno Parish in Puerto Princesa City before he was elevated to episcopacy.

Meanwhile, Pedregosa was ordained a priest for Malaybalay in 1991.

Since 2017, the 56-year-old bishop-elect has been vicar general of the diocese and rector of the Malaybalay Cathedral, CBCP said.

The diocese has been without a bishop since August 2020 after Pedrogosa’s predecessor, Archbishop Jose Cabantan, formally assumed his post in Cagayan de Oro.