Manaoag shrine proclaimed minor basilica

MANAOAG, Pangasinan, Philippines – Thousands came to witness  the proclamation of the Shrine of Our Lady of the Rosary here as a minor basilica yesterday.

Papal Nuncio Giusseppe Pinto led the ceremony that was capped by a mass celebrated by Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle and Orlando Cardinal Quevedo and Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales as co-celebrants.

About 60 bishops and archbishops led by Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Socrates Villegas, president of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines, and 300 priests and nuns across the country attended the event.

Quevedo read the decree for the elevation as a minor basilica of the shrine. 

Tagle said the proclamation of a parish church as a minor basilica recognizes not only the parish’s history but also its spiritual patrimony.

Father Jerry Manlangit, superior of the shrine’s convent, noted the significance of the event.

Pope Francis ordered the elevation of the church’s status, according to Manlangit.

“This is the first basilica in Pangasinan,” he said.