MANILA -- The Roman Catholic Diocese of Malolos has announced the passing of Bishop Jose Francisco Oliveros Friday morning. He was 71.
“It is with great sadness that the Office of the Vicar General announces that our Local Ordinary, His Excellency, Most Rev. Jose Francisco Oliveros, DD has joined our creator, the Heavenly Father at 9 a.m. today,” said the statement released by the Diocese’s Commission on Social Communications on Friday.
The Diocese urged the members of the clergy and the faithful to pray for the eternal repose of the soul of the late Catholic prelate.
“We appeal to all the clergy, religious and lay faithful of the Diocese of Malolos to pray for the eternal repose of the soul of Bishop Jose. Please include him in your prayers on all Masses and prayers for the following days,” the statement said.
Fr. Nick Lalog, Malolos diocesan social communications director, said the wake of Bishop Oliveros will be at the Cathedral Basilica Minore of the Immaculate Conception in Malolos City starting 5 p.m. on Friday.
The burial will be on May 17 after the 9 a.m. funeral Mass at the cathedral. He will be laid to rest at the crypt of the Malolos cathedral's main altar.
Oliveros was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2015.
Meanwhile, Zambales Bishop Bartolome Santos Jr., former vicar general of the Diocese of Malolos, said he is going to miss the wisdom and fatherly concern of the late Catholic bishop.
"Bishop Jose Oliveros has already joined the Lord of life. The gift of resurrection will now be realized in him. What he has preached and believed will now be his life in eternity. I will surely miss his wisdom and fatherly concern but I know God has prepared an abode for him where joy and gladness will be forever,” he said in a statement.
The Malolos bishop headed the Episcopal ordination of Bishop-elect Santos last April 30.
On the other hand, San Jose Bishop Robert Mallari and Bataan Bishop Ruperto Santos both expressed sadness over the passing of the Bulacan prelate.
"I remember him most especially when they hosted an international convention on the Divine Mercy in Malolos. He was there even when he was sick. He was always up even though he was sick. He was there, although he was just sitting during the celebration but he was there,” the Nueva Ecija prelate said in an interview over Church-run Radio Veritas.
Mallari was referring to the holding of the World Apostolic Congress on Mercy or WACOM 4 in 2017, where the Diocese of Malolos was part of Church event.
For his part, Santos, chairman of Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines- Episcopal Commission on Migrants and Itinerant People, said that he was saddened by the passing of Oliveros, but assured that the late bishop is now with the Lord.
“It was sad news but I will tell the priests in our diocese to offer Masses for the eternal repose of the soul of Bishop Oliveros. We lost a father, Bulacan has lost its father but we all know that he is now with our God in heaven,” Santos added in separate interview with Radio Veritas.
Oliveros was born on Sept. 11, 1946 and was ordained as a priest in 1970.
In 2000, Pope John Paul II installed him as bishop of Boac, Marinduque four years after he was appointed as head of the Diocese of Malolos. (PNA)
