Vatican official to speak at PH bishops retreat

AN official of the Vatican is set to be among the speakers in the forthcoming retreat of the country’s Catholic bishops in Bukidnon this week.

In a report by CBCP News, Vatican’s Secretary for Relations with States Archbishop Paul Gallagher will address the July 2 to 4 biannual retreat of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) at the Transfiguration Abbey in Malaybalay, Bukidnon.

The other retreat speakers are theologians Fr. Reynaldo Raluto and Fr. Daniel Franklin Pilario.

Raluto is the chair of the Diocese of Malaybalay’s Integral Ecology Ministry while Pilario is president of Adamson University in Manila.

The biannual retreat serves as a prelude to the bishops’ 128th Plenary Assembly set from July 6 to 8.

Over 80 bishops are expected to attend the biannual plenary meet slated at the Chali Resort and Conference Center in Cagayan de Oro City.

Among the agenda of the plenary conference is the election of the chairmen of the Commission on Catholic Education; the Sub-commission on Retired, Sick, and Elderly Priests; the Sub-commission for Permanent Deacons; and the Office for the Postulation of the Causes of Saints.

Discussions on proposed activities for the Jubilee 2025 celebrations in the Philippines are also expected.

The Plenary Assembly is the highest decision-making body of the CBCP.