Priests attending National Congress of the Clergy urged to present ID

MANILA, Philippines - Former Ambassador to the Vatican Henrietta de Villa urged yesterday priests attending the second National Congress of the Clergy in Manila to present their “celebret” to help organizers distinguish the fake priests from the real ones.

De Villa, NCC2 central coordinating council head, said the priest need to present their “celebret,” or identification card, for proper identification. She said the additional security measure is to avoid a repeat of the incident during the first NCC in 2004 wherein a fake priest tried to get into the event.

“We have already instructed our people to ask the identity of the “walk-in” by asking them to present their “celebret,” she said in an interview. “He went in because we were also accepting walk-in that time, but when we verified that he’s not a priest, he left quietly. It turns out he was just curious to attend,” she said.

As of yesterday, De Villa said, a total of 4,820 priests have already registered for the event and they expect the number to still increase in the coming days. “We’ve been getting a lot of calls. So I expect the 5,000 mark that Manila Archbishop Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales had hoped for will be surpassed because we are not yet counting the 100 bishops who are also joining the Congress,” she said.

De Villa said the registration would remain open even during the actual event as instructed by the Cardinal. “As per direction of His Eminence, we do not close registration because the inspiration of the Holy Spirit can come at any time,” De Villa said.

Msgr. Gerardo Santos of the NCC II committee on program, said the main objective of the congress is to provide the priests a deep and religious experience that would hopefully lead to a spiritual conversion and greater commitment.

The theme of this year’s congress follows the theme of the Year for Priests: “Faithfulness of Christ, faithfulness of priests.”