Pope Leo names new Nueva Ecija bishop

MANILA, Philippines — Pope Leo XIV appointed Fr. Samuel Agcaracar as the new bishop of San Jose, Nueva Ecija, replacing Bishop Roberto Mallari who was appointed as head of the Diocese of Tarlac.

Agcaracar, 55, is the rector of the Divine Word Seminary in Tagaytay City and provincial admonitor of the Societas Verbi Divini (SVD) Philippine central province.

Born to a family of farmers in Claveria, Cagayan, Agcaracar worked as a teacher while serving as a catechist in his home parish of St. Joseph. He was ordained an SVD priest in 2007 and served as high school director at the Divine Word College of Calapan in Oriental Mindoro.

Agcaracar earned a doctorate in missiology from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. He is also the founder and executive director of the SVD Laudato Si’ Farm in Tagaytay.

Nueva Ecija has two dioceses: Cabanatuan and San Jose, which oversees parishes in the northern part of the province.

The date of his episcopal ordination and installation as fifth bishop of San Jose has yet to be announced.