Pope Francis has named the country’s youngest Catholic prelate as the new bishop of the Apostolic Vicariate of Calapan in Oriental Mindoro.
The appointment of 49-year-old Bishop Moises Cuevas, currently the auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Zamboanga, was announced by the Vatican on Thursday, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) reported on its news website on Friday.
Cuevas, who hails from Batangas City, was ordained a priest of the Zamboanga Archdiocese in 2000. The Holy Father appointed him as the archdiocese’s auxiliary bishop in March 2020.
Cuevas is also the apostolic administrator of the Archdiocese of Zamboanga while waiting for the installation of new Zamboanga Archbishop Julius Tonel on August 22.
The bishop-elect will succeed Bishop Warlito Cajandig, who was the head of the post from 1989 until 2022.
In November 2022, the Holy See announced that the Pope had “liberated” the 79–year-old Cajandig from his office for health reasons.
Cajandig suffered a stroke in 2018 and underwent brain surgery.
The pontiff then appointed Fr. Nestor Adalia as apostolic administrator to govern the vicariate