Rosales back from Vatican tonight

Archbishop of Manila Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales is set to arrive tonight from Rome after being officially named to the College of Cardinals by Pope Benedict XVI last week.

Upon arriving on a Lufthansa flight at 6:55 p.m., Rosales will be welcomed by his staff, led by Manila Auxiliary Bishop Bernardino Cortez and former ambassador to the Vatican Henrietta de Villa.

Rosales will celebrate his appointment as cardinal with a thanksgiving Mass at the Manila Cathedral in Intramuros at 10 a.m. on Saturday.

It would be his first public Mass in the country as a cardinal, the Archdiocese of Manila said yesterday.

The country’s bishops will concelebrate the Mass with Rosales. Archbishop of Cebu Ricardo Cardinal Vidal will deliver the homily. Government officials and those from the diplomatic corps, the different Catholic parishes and religious organizations, as well as relatives and friends of Rosales are also expected to attend the Mass.

Before the Mass, Rosales has set a formal meeting with priests in the Archdiocese of Manila when they pray together tomorrow.

Rosales will then meet the youth on April 2 and the urban poor on April 3 before he visits his hometown in Batangas on April 4 and 5.

Apart from his official elevation to the College of Cardinals, Rosales is also expected to report what he had discussed with the Pope in their one-on-one meeting last Monday.

Rosales, who has been dubbed by fellow prelates as a "silent worker," is a known advocate of the poor.

He put up the Pondong Pinoy project to raise funds from small donations and feed poor Filipinos across the country.

Before Rosales left for Rome last March 17, he told reporters that he felt unworthy of his new assignment but not incompetent in the sense of what "God wants me to do."

In meeting with the Pope, Rosales was joined by his staff Fr. Reginald Malicdem, Sr. Elsa Belen, and Fr. Genaro Diwa, minister of the Ministry of Liturgical Affairs of the Archdiocese of Manila.

Immediately after arriving in Rome, Rosales went on retreat at the convent of the Little Sisters of Jesus in Tre Fontane until last Tuesday.

Rosales, 73, was one the 15 new cardinals appointed by the Vatican. – Edu Punay