(Photo courtesy of Manila Cathedral Facebook page)
MANILA – The Manila Cathedral is all set to welcome Jose Cardinal Advincula as the 33rd Archbishop of Manila.
In a Facebook post on Monday, the church known as the Minor Basilica of the Immaculate Conception said some preparations for Advincula's installation ceremony on June 24 were already completed.
These include the restoration of the cathedra or the Archbishop’s “chair” and the inclusion of the cardinal’s name on the cathedral’s marker.
“The present cathedra, installed during the postwar reconstruction in 1958, is made of the choicest Italian marbles and was designed and crafted in Rome through the Istituto Internazionale d’Arte Liturgica. Recently, the original Mexican onyx was revealed and restored. The new carving of the coat of arms of Cardinal Jose Advincula was imposed on top of white Indian marble,” it said.
At the same time, the name of the new Manila archbishop has been included on the marker, where past 32 heads of the archdiocese have been written.
“Since the original marker that listed the 32 names of the Archbishops of Manila for the past 442 years is now full, a new marker was created to now include the name of Jose F. Cardinal Advincula as the 33rd Archbishop of Manila,” the post said. “He is now part of the great history of pastors who used to hold the title Metropolitan of the Philippines. You can see this marker at the left wall of the Cathedral narthex".
Advincula's installation as the new head of the archdiocese of Manila will coincide with the celebration of the city's 450th founding anniversary.
The archdiocese is home to around 3 million Catholics.
The installation Mass will be headed by Papal Nuncio to the Philippines Archbishop Charles Brown.
Manila Archbishop Emeritus Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle, Advincula’s predecessor, will not be able to attend the event since he is in Rome.
The last time the archdiocese held such a ceremony was on Dec. 12, 2012, during the installation of Tagle, who succeeded Archbishop Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales. (PNA)
