Pope names Cortes Dumaguete bishop

CEBU, Philippines - Cebu Auxiliary Bishop Julito Cortes has been appointed by Pope Francis as the new bishop of Dumaguete City, Negros Oriental.

According to the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) News, the selection of Cortes was announced officially in Rome at 12 noon (6 p.m. in the Philippines) last Saturday.

The CBCP News stated that Cortes will become the fourth ordinary of the diocese, which has been without a bishop since last May 2012 following Archbishop John Du's installation as head of the Archdiocese of Palo.

It added that Cortes is not new to his assignment because he was the parish priest of Bacong, Negros Oriental, which is also part of the Dumaguete diocese, for more than five years.

As Dumaguete City's new bishop, Cortes will be serving about 40 parishes with around one million Catholics.

Born in Parañaque in 1956 and ordained a priest in 1980, Cortes also served as the Dumaguete diocese's vicar general for 11 years and later as diocesan administrator until Du was installed as bishop in July 2001.

Cortes has also served in a number of pastoral roles as a member of the CBCP Commission on Culture and Commission on Liturgy, after his episcopal ordination in 2002.

Cortes is the chairman of the CBCP Permanent Committee  on Cultural Heritage of the Church since 2009 up to the present. — (FREEMAN)