1931–2017
A man of peace is gone, and Cebu deeply mourns his passing.
Words of sympathies and condolences poured in as the country’s most senior cardinal and Catholic Church leader passed away early morning Wednesday.
Cebu Archbishop Emeritus Ricardo Cardinal Vidal — considered by many as a “champion of peace” — died at the intensive care unit of the Perpetual Succour Hospital in Cebu City at 7:26 a.m., surrounded by some priests and his closest confidants.
The 86-year-old prelate died of septic shock, a condition in which blood pressure drops to a dangerously low level after a severe blood infection, said Msgr. Joseph Tan, the spokesperson of the Archdiocese of Cebu.
“It is with great sadness that I announce the death of Cardinal Vidal. He has returned to the Father’s home at 7:28 a.m. today,” the archdiocesan media liaison officer said by phone on Wednesday.
“I ask the people to pray for his eternal repose. For four days, he was in stable condition. But as it is, his heart may have given up due to his age,” he added.
Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma and Auxiliary Bishop Dennis Villarojo, who served as Vidal’s private secretary for many years, were with the cardinal when he breathed his last.
Palma blessed Vidal’s body before it was taken to St. Peter’s Funeral Homes on Imus Street in Cebu City.
Amid a heavy downpour, hundreds of people gathered at the Cebu Metropolitan Cathedral where the body of the beloved cardinal was brought and now lies in state, as bells of the Basilica Minore del Sto. Niño pealed to echo the grief of the church.
At 8 p.m., a Mass was celebrated by Palma at the cathedral.
Wake
The remains of Vidal, who served as archbishop of Cebu for 29 years (1982–2011), would be at the cathedral until Friday and will be transferred to the Archdiocesan Shrine of San Pedro Calungsod at the Archbishop’s Residence compound on Saturday morning but will be returned to the cathedral in the evening of the same day.
Tan said the prelate will be buried on October 26, a Thursday, at the cathedral’s mausoleum, where his predecessors were also laid to rest.
He said they are anticipating many visitors from different parts of the country considering that Vidal had served the church as priest, bishop, and cardinal for six decades. Vidal was the second archbishop of Cebu since the local church, dedicated to the Most Holy Name of Jesus, was elevated to an archdiocese in 1934.
Msgr. Ruben Labajo, team moderator of the cathedral, said the public will be given the chance to pay their last respects to the prelate for 24 hours, or up to this evening.
“Cardinal Vidal’s body will be placed at the side altar dedicated to St. Vitalis, the patron of the cathedral. There will be a public viewing, but I ask the people to do it in a solemn and orderly manner,” he said in an interview.
The streets surrounding the cathedral were closed to traffic to accommodate the throng of people who are expected to visit the cardinal’s wake.
Policemen were also deployed at the cathedral to secure the people.
Malacañang, through Presidential Spokesperson Ernesto Abella, on Wednesday expressed its grief over Vidal’s demise. (see separate story)
The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) mourned the passing of one of the princes of the Catholic Church, while Pope Francis was informed about Vidal’s death by Archbishop Gabriele Giordano Caccia, the Apostolic Nuncio to the Philippines, said Tan.
Vidal, whose health began to decline in 2014 after he suffered from pneumonia, was rushed to the hospital Wednesday last week after having difficulty in breathing. He was in a semicomatose state and had undergone a dialysis after his kidneys weakened.
At around 6 a.m. on Wednesday, October 18, his blood pressure dropped due to severe blood infection. Physicians tried to revive Vidal for about an hour but failed.
Aside from Palma and Villarojo, also present at the hospital with Vidal were his 84-year-old brother Juanito and former private secretaries, Msgr. Achilles Dakay, Fr. Agustin Ancajas, Fr. Mhar Vincent Balili and Fr. Joseph de Aquino.
‘He belongs to God’
Juanito said he flew into Cebu from Manila last week after learning that Vidal was confined at the hospital.
He said he was, however, not able to talk to Vidal anymore since the latter was already unconscious since then.
Juanito said Vidal had totally offered himself to the Lord since he became a priest in 1956.
“Sabi niya, ‘Kung saan ako inilagay ng Panginoon, doon ako. Hindi na ako para sa inyo. Para na ako sa mga tao. Iba na ang kalagayan ko. Kailangan ako ng mga tao’ (He said, ‘Wherever the Lord brings me, I will go. I am no longer for you but for the people of God. I am into a different situation now.
The people need me’),” Juanito recalled his brother as saying.
Juanito, the youngest among six Vidal siblings (the prelate was the fifth), said that while he knew that his brother was already dying, it was still painful to lose a loved one.
“I would have wanted to die ahead of him because he still has a lot to offer the people. He is needed by the people,” he said in Tagalog.
Juanito thanked the Cebuanos for taking good care of Vidal since the latter was assigned in Cebu in 1981.
“Salamat. Salamat. Salamat. Naramdaman ko ang pagmamahal ninyo sa aking kapatid (Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I feel your love for my brother),” he said in tears.
Peace worker
Tan said Vidal will always be remembered as a champion of peace, and one who made himself available to others.
“He lends himself to others so he could be of help to them. He tried to be a peacemaker by mediating parties in conflict even to the point that he was (at times) misunderstood. But that is his way. He chose the way of truth),” said the monsignor, alluding to Vidal’s episcopal motto Viam Veritas Elegi (I have chosen the way of truth).
Among Vidal’s many legacies, Tan said two things stood out.
“First, he called for a diocesan synod in 1982 to create policies to transform the diocese. And second, Cardinal Vidal gave us the legacy of San Pedro Calungsod, and started the legacy of Archbishop Teofilo Camomot,” he said.
For over two decades, Vidal worked for the canonization of Calungod, who, in 2012, was canonized and became the first Visayan martyr and the second Filipino saint after Lorenzo Ruiz de Manila.
The cardinal also started the process for the beatification of the late Cebuano bishop Teofilo Camomot, who was known for his extreme generosity and holiness.
“Cardinal Vidal was close to the clergy of Cebu and the people of God. He carried himself like a father to his spiritual children. He did his best so that the Christian faith in Cebu will thrive. Even after his retirement in 2011, he was still active in serving the church,” said Tan, who was ordained by Vidal in 1991.
At present, the Archdiocese of Cebu is the largest in the country with 400 diocesan priests, 200 others from various religious congregations and about four million lay Catholics.
Memories
Msgr. Achilles Dakay, who served as Vidal’s secretary and the archdiocesan media liaison officer for 25 years, said the cardinal was more than just a boss to him.
“He had always been a father and friend; a very fine boss to work with. He was very humble and a caring man. The church of Cebu has now lost a pillar. I don’t know if anybody else can fit into his shoes,” the 83-year-old monsignor said in an interview.
“I am sad. But at the same time, I am happy that he has gone to where he deserves to go,” he added.
Msgr. Joseph de Aquino, the last private secretary of Vidal, said the cardinal was a true example of a peacemaker.
“He is a man of peace. All he wanted was peace and reconciliation. If there was trouble in the church or politics, he would always intervene. Cardinal Vidal’s death is one turning point in the history of the Catholic Church or even in the political, or the whole Philippine setting,” he said.
Msgr. Agustin Ancajas, another secretary of Vidal for eight years, said they were relieved that the cardinal did not suffer for a long time at the hospital.
Like other priests, Ancajas said there is nothing more concrete to describe the cardinal other than his being a champion of peace.
“He was a mediator. He always finds the way for peace,” he said. “I remember politicians coming to the Archbishop’s Residence during election seasons to ask for his blessing. He never turned down even one of them. He accommodated everyone.”
With Vidal’s death, the country is left with just three living cardinals: Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle, Cotabato Archbishop Orlando Cardinal Quevedo, and Manila Archbishop Emeritus Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales. /WITH CORRESPONDENT FE MARIE DUMABOC
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