HOMAGE. Catholic priests in Cebu line up to pay their last respect to the late Cebu Archbishop Emeritus Ricardo Cardinal Vidal after the Mass on Wednesday night at the Cebu Metropolitan Cathedral officiated by Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma.
CDN PHOTO/JUNJIE MENDOZA
CONCLUSION
In 1981, Vidal was sent to Cebu by Pope John Paul II. He was named a coadjutor archbishop with the right to succeed then Cebu Archbishop Julio Cardinal Rosales. When Rosales died in 1983, Vidal took over as archbishop of Cebu.
“I didn’t want to go to Cebu because I did not know how to speak Cebuano. I personally went to Pope John Paul II to express my request. But he told me, ‘I am also from Poland, and yet the Lord brought me to Rome.’ So I openly accepted my assignment in Cebu. I learned the language and eventually fell in love with my assignment. The people of Cebu are so good to me,” Vidal said in one of his interviews.
On May 25, 1985, he was named a cardinal of the Catholic Church by then pope and now St. John Paul II. The following year, Vidal was elected president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), leading the influential church body until 1987.
From Marcos…
That year, Vidal and the CBCP condemned the results of the year’s snap elections and called the people for a “non-violent struggle for justice” against the abuses of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos Sr. A CBCP report said Vidal led the rest of the Philippine bishops and made a joint declaration against the government and result of the snap election.
While he was not the front line of the People Power revolt in 1986, Vidal actually “called the shots for the Edsa revolution,” recalled Msgr. Achilles Dakay, who served as Vidal’s secretary and the Archdiocese’s media liaison officer from 1984 to 2008.
But even as he helped toppled the Marcos regime, Vidal flew to Hawaii to give the ousted president the Sacrament of Extreme Unction, a sacrament given to seriously ill person. “He (Marcos) could no longer talk, so what I did was I instructed him to press my hands if he committed the sins that I mentioned. He followed,” said Vidal in an earlier interview.
In 1989, during the 9-day siege of rebel soldiers who had taken control over key installations on Mactan Island, then president Corazon Aquino requested Vidal to convince then Air Force chief general Jose Comendador, who was sympathetic to the rebel forces fighting her government, to peacefully surrender. Vidal repeatedly appealed to Comendador who eventually gave up. Vidal’s intervention averted a bloody confrontation among Filipino soldiers.
In 2001, Vidal also played a silent role in the Edsa II revolution. It was the prelate who privately advised then president Joseph Estrada to step down from office. Vidal, later on, supported former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s move to grant a pardon to Estrada, who was convicted of plunder in 2007.
On December 7, 2010, the Senate recognized Vidal’s contribution to the country through a resolution that read: “It is resolved by the Senate, to honor Ricardo Cardinal Vidal, Archbishop of Cebu, for his service to the people of Cebu, providing spiritual leadership and inspiration, helping the community avert or survive several crises and conflicts, often acting as a peacekeeper and giving the voice of moderation amid clashing views and interests in local and national issues.”
Although 75 was the mandatory retirement age, Vidal waited for more than four years for the Vatican to approve his request to retire. In October 2010, Pope Benedict XVI accepted Vidal’s resignation. Vidal was replaced by Archbishop Jose Palma on January 13, 2011.
Instead of going back to Marinduque, Vidal chose to spend his retirement in Cebu. He stayed at a retirement house at the Sto. Niño Village in Banilad, Cebu City.
Although he had retired, Vidal’s pieces of advice were still sought after by church and political leaders in the country.
to Duterte
In July 2016, Vidal went to Malacañang and met with President Rodrigo Duterte, hoping to bridge the gap between Catholic Church bishops and the new administration.
President Duterte earlier criticized the Catholic Church for alleged sins committed by the clergy describing the church, at one point, as the “most hypocritical institution.” When he arrived at the Music Room of Malacañang, Duterte bowed his head and kissed the prelate’s hand, and even cracked jokes with Vidal. During their conversation, Vidal said he promised to pray for the President.