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PHL-born prelate named Papua New Guinea bishop


A Philippine-born prelate has been named Bishop of Alotau-Sideia in Papua New Guinea, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) announced on Thursday. The CBCP said in a statement that Fr. Rolando Crisostomo Santos was the superior of the local Vicentians in the Philippines before he was assigned to Papua New Guinea. In 1960s, the 62-year-old bishop studied at the Vincentian Minor Seminary in Valuenzuela and took his formation at the Vincentian Hills Seminary in Angono, Rizal. Santos was ordained to the priesthood in 1974. As a young priest, he served as a formator at the St. Vincent Ferrer Seminary in Iloilo City, and eventually became a parochial vicar and pastor in Calumpang, also in Iloilo City. In 1984, he was appointed rector of the Vincentian Seminary in Tandang Sora, Quezon City. “Fr. Santos became an active member of the pastoral ministry of the Provincial Mission Team. In 1987, he was appointed director of the Daughters of Charity in the Philippines in addition to his being vicar of the National Shrine of the Miraculous Medal in Muntinlupa City," the CBCP said. In 2001, Santos was sent to Papua New Guinea and became spiritual director at the Holy Spirit seminary in Bomana, under the Archdiocese of Port Moresby. Before his appointment as bishop of Alotau-Sideia, he served as the secretary-general of the Catholic Bishops Conference of Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands. The See of Alotau-Sideia has an area of 20,000 square miles, a population of 245,000, with 41,137 Catholics, 23 priests, and 43 religious men and women. — JE, GMA News

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