Retired Archbishop Angel Lagdameo, 81

RETIRED Archbishop Angel Lagdameo, former president of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), died on Friday. He was 81.

The former Jaro archbishop passed away at 8:30 a.m. in Iloilo City, according to the archdiocese.

"Let us include him in our prayers and Masses," it said.

Lagdameo was born on Aug. 2, 1940 in Lucban, Quezon. A graduate of San Jose Seminary, Ateneo de Manila University, he was ordained priest for the Diocese of Lucena on Dec. 19, 1964.

On Aug. 12, 1980, he was consecrated bishop as an auxiliary to Cardinal Julio Rosales.

In January 1986, Lagdameo was designated as co-adjutor bishop of Dumaguete and then he became bishop of the diocese in May 1989.

On March 11, 2000, he was appointed by Pope John Paul 2nd as the 12th prelate and fifth Archbishop of Jaro and was installed in the Cathedral of Jaro on May 9, 2000.

In 2004, Blessed Hannibal di Francia, founder of the Rogationist Congregation, was approved for canonization on account of a miracle he performed on a child from Jaro who was suffering from severe meningitis. Lagdameo presided at an investigation of the incident that lasted for three years.

In the CBCP, he served as chairman of the Episcopal Commission on the Laity from 1990 to 2000.

The archbishop later served as CBCP president from December 2005 to December 2009.

Prior to his election, he was CBCP vice president for two terms of four years.

Lagdameo was also former chairman of the Office of Laity of the Federation of Asian Bishops' Conferences.

Pope Francis accepted the archbishop's resignation at the age of 77 in 2018.

Source: TheManila Times