MANILA – Pope Francis has appointed a new bishop of the Diocese of Kabankalan in Negros Occidental. Monsignor Louie Galbines, 51, will be the third bishop of the diocese. He has been serving as the vicar general of the Diocese of Bacolod.
According to an article posted on the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) news website, the 51-year old Catholic priest will succeed Bishop Patricio Buzon who was transferred to the Bacolod diocese in 2016 after serving Kabankanlan for 13 years.
Galbines was born in Sagay City on Nov. 18, 1966 and completed his philosophical and theological studies at the University of Santo Tomas in Manila.
He was ordained as priest for the diocese of Bacolod on April 29, 1994. He served as deputy dean and spiritual director at the Sacred Heart Seminary in Bacolod City and chancellor and secretary of the diocesan Curia of Bacolod from 1994 to 1996.
Galbines continued his education at the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas in Rome where he obtained a licentiate and a doctorate in sacred theology in 2001.
The bishop-elect has held other posts including president of the diocesan Commission for the Clergy and parish vicar of the Saint Sebastian parish from 2007 to 2012.
In 2012, he became rector and, a year after, vicar general of the Sacred Heart Seminary.
