Posted by ReyFort Media
Philippine Catholic bishops will begin its biannual meeting this weekend in Bohol province, with elections and other key matters on the agenda.
The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) is set to elect a new president, vice president, nine regional representatives to the permanent council, and commission chairs.
CBCP secretary general Msgr. Bernardo Pantin said the bishops will also vote on some action items during the upcoming plenary assembly that will be held in the Diocese of Talibon.
The new president and vice president will succeed Cardinal Pablo Virgilio David of Kalookan and Bishop Mylo Vergara of Pasig, respectively. Both are completing their second and final terms in November.
CBCP officials serve a two-year term, and may be re-elected once for a maximum of four years in office.
The newly elected officials will assume office on December 1.
The CBCP holds plenary sessions twice a year — in January and July. Its work is carried out by a number of commissions and committees.
When the plenary is not in session, the permanent council acts on behalf of the entire organization.
The CBCP currently has 126 members, including 87 active bishops, 38 honorary or retired bishops, and three diocesan priest-administrators.
In addition to leadership elections, the bishops will choose six delegates — two each from Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao — to attend the 2026 plenary assembly of the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences (FABC) in Malaysia.
Pantin said Cardinals Jose Advincula of Manila and Pablo Virgilio David of Kalookan, along with the next CBCP president, will be automatic delegates to the FABC assembly.
The bishops’ assembly will be preceded by a retreat from June 30 to July 3 in the Diocese of Tagbilaran.
The retreat will serve as a consultation on synodal implementation and aims to craft a framework for a national program on synodal transformation.
About 180 delegates — including bishops, priests, consecrated persons and laypeople from across the country — are expected to attend.
The national meeting follows regional synodal consultations held in April.
Pantin said the bishops will also vote on a proposed “national accounting manual” for the Catholic Church in the Philippines.
The manual was developed during the recent Archdiocesan Financial Administrators of the Philippines Convention held in General Santos City.
“It’s a financial system so that dioceses will not use terms not from corporations or the government but Church terms,” Pantin said.
The bishops will also discuss a proposal to establish an Episcopal Commission on Ecology, which would focus on ecological issues as a formal body, rather than merely an advocacy under Caritas Philippines.
CAPTION: Catholic bishops pose for a group photo at the National Shrine of Saint Padre Pio in Santo Tomas, Batangas, during their 129th plenary assembly on July 6, 2025. (Photo from CBCP News)
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