Pope Francis appoints new archbishop in Bicol

MANILA, Philippines — Pope Francis on Thursday named Bishop Rex Alarcon the new prelate of the metropolitan see of Bicol, the Archdiocese of Caceres.

Alarcon, who was the former Bishop of the Diocese of Daet, has been transferred to the archdiocese which holds jurisdiction in the third, fourth and fifth congressional districts of Camarines Sur, Naga City, Iriga City and the Municipality of Gainza.

Naga City, where the seat of the archdiocese is located, houses Bicol’s patroness — Our Lady of Peñafrancia whose feast day is celebrated on the third Saturday of September. 

The archdiocese also covers several suffragan dioceses namely: Daet, Legazpi, Libmanan Masbate, Sorsogon and Virac.

According to the archdiocese’s website, its jurisdiction covers 93 parishes accounting for a Catholic population of 1,526,975 as of 2017.

On the other hand, the Philippine Statistics Authority, in the agency’s latest religious affiliation data, said that the Bicol region has the highest proportion of Catholics out of the 17 regions in the Philippines. 

Alarcon replaced Archbishop Rolando Tria Tirona in the post who retired at the age of 77.

Prior to his current appointment, Alarcon was initially placed by the Pontiff at the Diocese of Daet in Camarines Norte. He was the youngest bishop appointed in the Philippines during his previous post.

He is also the chairman of the Episcopal Commission on Youth of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines.