Bishop Ruben Labajo will be officially installed as the first shepherd of the newly established Diocese of Prosperidad on Jan. 28 this year.
The outgoing auxiliary bishop of Cebu will assume his new role during a Mass at St. Michael the Archangel Cathedral in Prosperidad town.
Bishops from across the country are expected to attend Labajo’s installation.
Pope Francis on Oct. 15 erected Prosperidad as the country’s 87th diocese, comprising the 27 parishes of Agusan del Sur province, and appointed Labajo as its bishop.
The new ecclesiastical territory was carved out of the Diocese of Butuan, which now covers only the parishes in Agusan del Norte province.
“This appointment marks a new chapter in the synodal journey of the People of God in the Dioceses of Butuan and Prosperidad,” the Butuan diocese said in a statement.
“We entrust the ministry of Bishop Labajo and the start of the new diocese to the Almighty Shepherd,” it added.
Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, pro-prefect of the Dicastery for Evangelization’s Section for the first Evangelization and the New Particular Churches, said the split should be seen as a “sign of growth.”
“Let us not look at it as a division, like one family divided into two—no it’s not that. It’s a sign of growth,” Tagle said.
He underscored that in some parts of the world, their concern is how to combine dioceses. But in the Philippines, according to him, the concern is how to create new dioceses.
“So it’s a sign of vitality,” the cardinal pointed out.
“Now you can give witness to Christ more openly and more zealously because there are two local churches already,” he also said.
