Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma urged the faithful to welcome 2020 with good memories of 2019. | CDND File Photo/Delta Letigio
CEBU CITY, Philippines — The Archdiocese of Cebu has issued a statement denying the information circulating on social media that the church has been asking donations for the construction of a Tabernacle.
Monsignor Joseph Tan, the spokesperson of the archdiocese, said that a message has been spreading in social media that Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma is soliciting donations for a tabernacle.
“Please circulate that Archbishop Palma is not asking donations for a tabernacle. This is a hoax circulating on social media. Thank you,” said Tan in a text message sent to the media on Thursday evening, January 2, 2020.
Tan said the hoax is similar to that of messages circulating in Manila through the text. In the Manila hoax, a certain Fr. Alan Albert Lagura is asking for donations for despedida gifts for Cardinal Louis Antonio Tagle, who has been recently assigned to Vatican by Pope Francis.
Tagle is the new prefect for the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, a top post in the Vatican, the center of the Roman Catholic Church.
The Catholic Church in the Philippines said these hoaxes are meant to get money from people under the names of the prelates.
The Archdiocese of Cebu urged the public not to believe in these messages and report them to the Archbishop’s Palace if they receive one.