SEVEN Filipino clergy are bound for the Vatican next month after being selected by Pope Francis to participate in the upcoming Synod of Bishops to discuss “critical issues” surrounding the Roman Catholic Church.
According to a report from CBCPNews, the seven-man delegation for the meeting from October 3 to 28 will be headed by Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle.
The Philippine delegation includes three members of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP): Bishop Leopoldo Jaucian of Bangued, chairman of the CBCP Episcopal Commission on Youth (ECY); Bishop Patricio Buzon, ECY vice chairman; and Bishop Joel Baylon of Legazpi, former ECY head and current member of the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences-Office of Laity and Family.
Also part of the delegation are Fr. Renato de Guzman of the Office for Pastoral Care of Don Bosco Education Center, Fr. Emmanuel Enrico Ayo of the Diocese, of Parañaque and Nicole Anne Perez, a catechist from Manila archdiocese.
The last Filipino invited for the Synod, Bishop Pedro Baquero of Kerema Diocese, will be participating as part of the delegate from Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands.