Pope Francis has appointed Fr. Euginius Cañete of the Missionaries of Jesus (MJ) as the new bishop of the Diocese of Gumaca in Quezon province.
The Vatican announced the appointment in its Monday noon bulletin, which is 6 p.m. in the Philippines.
Cañete, 58, will take over the diocese that has been vacant since the death of Bishop Victor Ocampo in March 2023.
The bishop-elect is currently the coordinator general of the congregation, which was founded in the Philippines in 2002.
MJ is now an international and multicultural religious missionary community, of which Cañete is one of the 41 founding members.
Born in Lilo-an, Cebu in 1966, he earned a degree in psychology from the University of St. La Salle in Bacolod City before pursuing his philosophical and theological studies at the Maryhill School of Theology in Quezon City.
In 1995, he was ordained a priest for the Congregation of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (CICM).
Cañete also obtained a licentiate degree in canon law from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome in 2003.
He currently teaches at various institutions, including the Recoletos School of Theology, the Institute of Formation and Religious Studies, the Inter-Congregational Theological Center, and Saint Vincent School of Theology, all located in Quezon City.
The priest is also a member of the Catholic Theological Society of the Philippines and Canon Law Society of the Americas.
