MANILA, Philippines - A priest based in Rome will soon be installed as the fourth bishop of the Diocese of Balanga, Bataan, the Vatican announced on Maundy Thursday.
The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) recently reported that Msgr. Ruperto Santos, who hails from San Rafael, Bulacan, has been appointed by Pope Benedict XVI to replace Archbishop Socrates Villegas, who was reassigned to the Archdiocese of Lingayen-Dagupan in Pangasinan last September.
Santos, 51, is the current rector of the Collegio Filippino in Rome.
Santos was born on Oct. 30, 1958. He was ordained as a priest on Sept. 10, 1983.
No date has yet been set for his ordination and installation as bishop of the Diocese of Balanga.
The diocese has some 600,000 Catholics. – Evelyn Macairan