Oldest PHL Catholic prelate dies at 92

The Philippines’ oldest Catholic bishop died Tuesday at age 92, two months shy of his 93rd birthday, according to the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP).   An article on the CBCP news site said retired San Pablo (Laguna) Bishop Pedro Bantigue died at 2:45 p.m. at the San Pablo Medical Center’s intensive care unit.   “[Bantigue] was the only living Filipino participant of the historic Second Vatican Council in Rome about 50 years ago. Last July 25, Bantigue had celebrated his 51st Episcopal anniversary,” it said.   A separate CBCP article said Bantigue’s remains lie at the San Pablo Cathedral in San Pablo City in Laguna. His interment would be on Monday, November 26, after a funeral Mass at 9:30 a.m.   Last Monday, the CBCP said Bantigue’s physician Dr. Cynthia Sanchez had informed the Laguna clergy that Bantigue’s health was degenerating because of internal bleeding.   It quoted MaryKnoll Theologian and professor Fr. James Kroeger as saying that in a documentary essay that Bantigue was among those who played a key role in Vatican II in Rome in the 1960s.   Bantigue was ordained on May 31, 1945, and became secretary to the archbishop of Manila from 1945 to 1954.   Upon his ordination as bishop on July 25, 1961, he was made Auxiliary Bishop of Manila, then Residential Bishop of San Pablo in 1967.   He served as a member of the Marriage Tribunal, chairman of the CBCP Commissions on Family and Life, Clergy and Prisoners’ Welfare.  He was Treasurer of the CBCP in 1976.   Bantigue was born January 31, 1920 in Hagonoy, Bulacan. He was appointed bishop to the Diocese of San Pablo on January 25, 1967 and stayed there until his retirement in 1995. — KBK, GMA News