Filipino missionary priest appointed bishop in Papua New Guinea

Bishop-elect Joseph Tarife Durero is now the third Filipino bishop serving in Papua New Guinea, which has 19 dioceses, according to a post in the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) website.

Bishop-elect Durero, 53, was appointed by Pope Francis as the new bishop of the diocese of Daru-Kiunga in Papua New Guinea replacing Canadian Bishop Gilles Côté of the Missionaries of the Company of Mary, who reached the mandatory retirement age of 75 in November.

He joins Vincentian Bishop Rolando Santos of Alotau-Sideia and Salesian Bishop Pedro Baquero of Kerema.

The new bishop, a missionary priest and member of the Society of Divine, had served as the vicar general of the archdiocese of Madang in Papua New Guinea.

Durero, who hails from Dapa town in Surigao del Norte, was ordained a priest in 1995 then was sent for a mission to Papua New Guinea where he held various posts throughout the years. -- BAP, GMA News