CAPIZ – Catholic devotees in this province warmly welcomed their new archbishop.
Pope Francis named Bishop Victor Bendico as the new Archbishop of Capiz.
He is the 4th archbishop of the Archdiocese of Capiz, replacing Cardinal Jose Advincula.
Bendico’s appointment was made public in Rome on Friday, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines said.
Before the appointment, the 63-year-old Bendico had been serving as bishop of the Diocese of Baguio since 2017.
The Capiz Archdiocese has been “sede vacante,” a state of a diocese without a bishop, for two years after it was vacated in 2021 by now Manila Archbishop Jose Advincula.
Since then, the archdiocese has been overseen by Monsignor Cyril Villarreal.
Bendico was born in Roxas City on Jan. 22, 1960. He finished his philosophical and theological studies at the University of Santo Tomas Central Seminary in Manila.
He was ordained a priest at the Archdiocese of Capiz on April 14, 1984.
Aside from serving as Baguio bishop, he also served as Apostolic Administrator of San Fernando, La Union, from 2017 to 2018. (With a report from Philippine News Agency)/PN
