Dear Jose Cardinal Advincula, our beloved shepherd in the Archdiocese of Manila,
We are happy to have you with us. We recognize that you are a gift of the Church through our Holy Father, Pope Francis, to our local church. We have been praying for a shepherd for the past 15 trying months. At last, our prayers have been answered and you are now with us.
I express the sentiments of joyous welcome of the Archdiocese – the clergy, the consecrated people and the lay faithful. We know that you will have to adjust to the situation of leading a big urban archdiocese. We admire your generosity in accepting this service to the Church. Do not be afraid. We are ready, as always, to cooperate and collaborate with our shepherds. You are not in this alone. As Pope Francis is stressing the synodal characteristic of the church, so we walk together in building the kingdom of the fullness of life in the Archdiocese.
We thank the former shepherds who have led the archdiocese. All the past 32 archbishops have given their share in the growth of this local church. We have two at the moment who are still living – Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales and Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle. To them we give our heartfelt thanks. We have felt their fatherly care. And you can ask them: we are a good and obedient flock, aren’t we, Cardinal Densi?
It is unfortunate that we cannot now come near you to touch you and, maybe give you a hug or kiss your ring as a sign of our homage. I hope this simple speech that I give in the name of the faithful of the archdiocese expresses our joy, our ready disposition, and our openness to journey with you in the spirit of synodality in the coming years.
Because of the pandemic, we were not able to gather together as priests to renew our priestly promises and commitment in front of the bishop last Holy Week. In a way, it is well so, so that now we can do this in front of you our new Archbishop. So I invite all the priests present who are incardinated in the archdiocese and who are working and staying in the archdiocese of Manila, to please stand up and together let us renew our priestly promises and our priestly commitment in front of our Archbishop, Jose Cardinal Advincula.
