The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines’ ministry for migrants has appointed a former chaplain of Filipinos in Rome as its new executive secretary.
Scalabrinian Fr. Ricky Gente will work alongside Bishop Socrates Mesiona, the new chairman of the CBCP Episcopal Commission for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People (ECMI).
Gente succeeds Fr. Roger Manalo, also a Scalabrinian missionary, who served in the post for four years.
Ordained in 1998, Gente has ministered to Filipino migrants abroad, providing spiritual guidance, community support, and a sense of home for Filipinos far from the Philippines.
His work, according to ECMI, helped preserve Filipino Catholic traditions, sustaining both faith and cultural identity among overseas communities.
He played a key role in major events for the Filipino community in Italy, including the historic first Simbang Gabi celebrated by Pope Francis at St. Peter’s Basilica in 2019.
In 2021, he helped organize a papal Mass in Rome marking 500 years of Christianity in the Philippines, bringing Filipinos together despite pandemic restrictions.
ECMI is a CBCP commission dedicated to “people-on-the-move”—including migrants, overseas Filipino workers, seafarers, itinerants, and others whose lives involve mobility.
The commission operates through regional “Migration Desks” and other Church structures, coordinating pastoral and social services for migrants in the Philippines and abroad.
Among its functions, ECMI develops pastoral programs, studies migration trends to guide care, and promotes the dignity and rights of migrants.
