Vatican official arriving in RP

A ranking Vatican official is set to arrive in the country today to talk about Church teachings and his experiences in the field of Catholic charity to the country’s bishops.

Cardinal Paul Josef Cordes, president of Vatican ’s Pontifical Council Cor Unum, will arrive at 3 p.m. today on board Philippine Airlines flight PR 319.

The Vatican official will be welcomed at the airport by Manila Archbishop Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales, Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines president Jaro, Iloilo Archbishop Angel Lagdameo and former Philippine Ambassador to the Vatican Henrietta de Villa.

Cordes will attend the 98th Plenary Assembly of the CBCP at the Pope Pius XII Catholic Center this weekend, where he will discuss Pope Benedict XVI’s encyclical Deus Caritas Est (God is love), according to de Villa.

Cordes is also scheduled to give a talk on Jan. 22 at the three-day seminar ushering in the bishops’ Plenary Assembly.

He will also visit Asia ’s oldest Catholic university, the University of Santo Tomas (UST), on Jan. 20 and 21, where he is also scheduled to give the same lecture.

As head of the Vatican council that oversees the Church’s charitable activities around the world, Cordes’ duty is to make sure Catholic teaching on charity becomes concrete.

Cordes also travels to disaster areas bearing not only a papal blessing for the victims, but also to give financial assistance.

He was vice president of the Pontifical Council for the Laity prior to his appointment as head of Cor Unum in 1995. – Helen Flores