New officers of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) headed by Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop and CBCP president Socrates Villegas (right front most) take their oath before Apostolic Nuncio to the Philippines Giuseppe Pinto (seated center) after the CBCP plenary assembly’s opening Mass at the Cebu Metropolitan Cathedral last January 2016.
CDN FILE PHOTO
The country’s current social and political landscape will be among the issues that will be discussed by the Catholic bishops as they convened for a three-day assembly that began yesterday in Manila.
Fr. Marvin Mejia, secretary general of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines, said the prelates are expected to address a host of “national issues,” apart from the usual internal and church matters.
“There will be discussions about World Congress on Mercy but definitely the bishops will also discuss the current sociopolitical landscape,” Mejia said.
The CBCP currently has around 90 active and some 38 retired members who attended the biannual meeting presided by Villegas, who is now in his second and last term as president.
The three-day assembly at the Pius XII Center in Manila was formally opened by Archbishop Giuseppe Pinto, who is the official representative of Pope Francis in the Philippines.
The CBCP’s 35 commissions, committees and offices are expected to present and render their annual reports to the plenary, the highest governing body of the bishops’ collegial body.
Mejia added that the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) is set to report to the bishops its final assessment of the recent local and national elections.
The plenary assembly which is held twice a year, in January and July, is always preceded by either a seminar or a retreat. This July it is with an annual retreat at the Betania Retreat House in Tagaytay City.
The CBCP had earlier raised the alarm bells over the recent spate of vigilante-style murders in the country.
While commending the authorities in their strong anti-crime crusade, the bishops are also concerned over the rising number of suspected drug pushers being killed in alleged shootouts since the May 9 elections.
The bishops also expressed strong opposition to the plan of President Rodrigo Duterte and his allies in Congress to revive the death penalty.