ROXAS City – Newly-appointed Manila Archbishop Jose Cardinal Advincula of Dumalag, Capiz said he is ready but admitted he felt scared when he learned of his new duty.
“I was scared, that’s what I felt after (Papal) Nuncio (Archbishop Charles Brown), told me that the Holy Father has appointed me. It will be my first time to be assigned in a highly urbanized area, Metro Manila, which is the capital of the country,” the 68-year-old Advincula said in a Radio Veritas interview on Friday.
He, however, said he is ready to fulfill his new assignment which he described as “challenging.”
“I am asking the faithful and the religious of Capiz to pray for me as I also pray for everybody,” he said.
Advincula added that this is another great chance for him to serve the faithful.
Advincula is the second archbishop from Panay Island to become both Cardinal and Archbishop of Manila. The first one was Cardinal Jaime Sin who was from Aklan.
“Having been chosen by God to be one of his ordained ministers is already a gift for me, a gift not to be kept for myself alone but should be used for the service of the people of God,” said Advincula.
Born on March 30, 1952, Advincula was ordained a priest for the archdiocese in 1976.
On March 25, the Vatican announced that the pontiff appointed Advincula as the new Manila archbishop.
He served as head of the Diocese of San Carlos for a decade since 2001 before he was transferred to the Capiz archdiocese in 2012 up to the present.
Advincula succeeded Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle, who was appointed by the Pope as Prefect of Congregation for the Evangelizations of Peoples in the Vatican last 2019.
In October last year, Pope Francis named Advincula a cardinal.
Catholic prelates welcomed Advincula’s Manila appointment.
“I am happy that we now have a shepherd,” Apostolic Administrator of Manila, Bishop Broderick Pabillo, said.
Caloocan Bishop Pablo Virgilio David also said he is happy with Advincula’s new designation.
“We are very happy to welcome Cardinal Joe Advincula as our new head of the Metropolitan Province of Manila, which the Diocese of Caloocan is also a part of,” he said. (PNA/PN)
