Pope Francis has named a new bishop for the Diocese of Sorsogon in the southern part of the Philippine island of Luzon on Oct. 15.
The pontiff named Father Jose Alan Dialogo, director of the Cardinal Sin Welcome Home for retired priests of the Manila Archdiocese, to take over from Bishop Arturo Bastes.
Bishop Bastes has stepped down having reached the retirement age of 75 for bishops in the Catholic Church.
Father Dialogo was born in Lagonoy town Daet Diocese, on July 10, 1962.
After his high school studies, he obtained a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of New Caceres and subsequently attended courses in philosophy and theology at the Holy Apostles Senior Seminary.
In 1999 he was awarded a licentiate in spirituality by the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome.
After his priestly ordination on July 31, 1996, for the Manila Archdiocese, he served as parish priest at San Roque church in Mandaluyong City in the capital Manila from 1996 to 1997.
In 1999, he was named vice rector and dean of seminarians at the Seminary of the Holy Apostles for adult vocations in Guadalupe, Makati City.
In 2008, he was appointed parish priest of St. John of the Cross Church in Pembo, Makati City. Since 2015, he served as director of the Cardinal Sin Welcome Home in Manila.
Sorsogon Diocese made the announcement of Father Dialogo’s appointment in a social media post on Oct. 15.
“Bishop Art broke the #GoodNews at the end of the presbyteral ordination this morning that the Holy Father has appointed Bishop-Elect Jose Alan Dialogo as the fifth bishop of Sorsogon,” read the post.
The diocese expressed its gratitude to the Holy Father for providing them a new bishop.
A post on the website of the Catholic bishops’ conference noted that the appointment was supposed to be announced in Rome, but Bishop Bastes sought permission to announce it earlier in his diocese.
Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle of Manila also announced the appointment during a meeting of the clergy on Oct. 15.
No date has been announced for the episcopal ordination of Father Dialogo and his installation as the fifth bishop of Sorsogon.
