Pope Francis has appointed one of the more outspoken prelates in the country”•Manila Auxiliary Bishop Broderick Pabillo”•as the administrator of the Archdiocese of Manila following Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle’s departure for the Vatican.
After former Manila Archbishop Tagle left for the Vatican on Sunday to report to his new post, the archdiocese was considered sede vacante, or Latin for “the seat being vacant.”
“At 10 p.m., 9 February 2020, His Eminence Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle left Manila for Rome to take on his new mission at the Vatican,” the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Manila-Office of Communications said in an advisory released Sunday night.
On Dec. 8, Pope Francis appointed Tagle as head of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, one of the top posts in the Vatican.
Pabillo, his replacement, has criticized President Rodrigo Duterte on a number of occasions in light of his criticisms of Catholic leaders and his war on drugs.
In June 2018, Pabillo called President Duterte’s remarks in a speech “blasphemous” after Duterte referred to a “stupid God” and questioned the wisdom of the Creation.
And in December 2018 Pabillo accused Duterte of making irresponsible statements when the President said he was wishing death on the bishops whom he called useless.
Duterte also said most of the priests in the Philippines were gay.
“These are all irresponsible statements since he cannot prove that,” Pabillo said.
“That irresponsible accusation does not make his actions and immoralities right! The sins of others do not make his own sins right.”
Tagle celebrated his last Mass in Manila at the Manila Cathedral, the seat of the Archdiocese, on Sunday morning.
He was Archbishop of Manila from 2011 to 2020.