ILOILO – Pope Francis has appointed the parish priest of the Immaculate Conception Cathedral in Roxas City as bishop of Baguio.
The Holy Father gave Monsignor Victor B. Bendico the new assignment on Saturday, Oct. 1, after accepting the resignation of Bishop Carlito J. Cenzon, according to a bulletin from the Vatican press office.
As bishop of Baguio, a city of around 740,000 people, Bendico will be in charge of a diocese with 84 priests and some 537,000 Catholics.
Born in Roxas City in 1960, Bendico completed his philosophical and theological studies at the University of Santo Tomas Central Seminary.
He was ordained priest for the Archdiocese of Capiz on April 14, 1984, according to a report on the university’s website.
Bendico holds a doctorate in sacred liturgy from the Pontifical Athenaeum of St. Anselm in Rome, Italy, where he studied from 1996 to 2000.
He was a spiritual director for the St. Pius X Seminary in Roxas City from 1984 to 1988, a vicar at St. Theresa Parish of Roxas City from 1992 to 1995, a rector at the St. Maria Mater et Regina Seminarium Maius (Saint Mary Mother and Queen Major Seminary) in Roxas City and pastor of St. Isidore Parish in Pontevedra, Capiz from 2000 to 2006, and pastor of St. Laurence Parish in Panitan, Capiz from 2006 to 2011.
Currently, Bendico is also a member of the Commission for Clergy and the one for liturgy; a member of the Council and the Senate of the clergy; and a member of the Council of the Colegio de la Purisima Concepción (College of the Immaculate Conception) in Roxas City, the UST report said./PN
