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Cardinal Vidal Ordains Third Filipino Nuncio
24 MAY 2006 - Not through a whimsical knack of serendipity but of divine design that Cebu stands proud of producing the first and third Filipino papal nuncios, both from the same family.
In a solemn episcopal ordination rites held yesterday afternoon at the Cebu Metropolitan Cathedral, Archbishop Francisco Padilla, brother of the first Filipino nuncio, became the third Filipino nuncio. Leaving his last assignment as Counselor in the Apostolic Nunciature of Australia, the newly ordained Archbishop Padilla will serve as the new Papal Nuncio to Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands.
Cebu's Metropolitan Cathedral was packed to the brim yesterday at Archbishop Padilla's Episcopal ordination rites, with Cebu archbishop Ricardo Cardinal Vidal as Principal Consecrator and the papal nuncio to the Philippines, Most. Rev. Fernando Filoni, as Co-consecrator. Attended by 13 bishops, around 100 priests, and some local government officials, the Papal Bull, containing Archbishop Padilla's official appointment by the Holy Father, was read during the solemn rites.
The historic event marking Archbishop Padilla's appointment signaled jubilant reverberations among Cebuanos and the entire Philippine Church as well. "It is certainly an occasion of great joy for the local Church of Cebu as well as for the whole country. Archbishop Padilla's feat as the 3rd Filipino nuncio, the second from Cebu and more so from the same Padilla family, really added to the joy and pride we have," said Fr. Marnell Mejia, the editor of Bag-ong Lungsoranon, Cebu's official archdiocesan publication.
Archbishop Francisco Padilla, whose parents both hail from Cebu (his mother is from Borbon, Cebu and his father from Argao of the same province) was born, the 10th of 13 siblings, on September 17, 1953 in Cebu City. After finishing his elementary education at the Colegio de Sto. Nino de Cebu, Archbishop Padilla entered the Pope John XIII Minor Seminary in Cebu City, and subsequently took his Philosophical studies from the Seminario Mayor de San Carlos, also in Cebu.
Thereafter, Archbishop Padilla proceeded on to his Theological studies and earned his Bachelor and Licentiate Degrees in Sacred Theology (STB and STL) from the University of Santo Tomas Central Seminary in Manila.
In 1985, shortly before joining the Church's diplomatic service, archbishop Padilla earned his Doctoral Degree in Sacred Theology (STD) and his Licentiate in Canon Law (JCL), summa cum laude (with highest academic honors), from the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome.
Archbishop Francisco Padilla's elder brother, Archbishop Osvaldo Padilla, became the first Filipino nuncio when he was named in 1990 by the late Pope John Paul II as the apostolic nuncio to Panama. The elder archbishop Padilla is currently assigned as papal nuncio to Costa Rica. The second Filipino nuncio is Archbishop Adolfo Tito Yllana, from Naga City, who is now the apostolic nuncio to Pakistan.
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