Roman Catholic Diocese of Pasig




The Roman Catholic Diocese of Pasig is the diocese of the Latin rite of the Catholic Church in the Philippines that comprises Pasig City, Pateros, and Taguig City in Metro Manila, Philippines. It was established by Pope John Paul II on June 28, 2003 by virtue of the Papal Bull Deus Caritas. It was formally and canonically erected on August 21, 2003, with the installation of Most Reverend Francisco C. San Diego, DD as its first bishop. The Immaculate Conception Cathedral-Parish, located in the central vicinity of Pasig, was made the cathedral or the seat of the diocese.

Historical background

Prior to the establishment as a local church, the present-day Diocese of Pasig used to be a part of the Archdiocese of Manila. The Vicariate of Santo Tomas de Villanueva was then under the Diocese of Antipolo. The oldest parishes, built during the Spanish colonialization period, were in Pasig, Pateros, and Taguig. In 1953, the community of Santolan, Pasig was granted a parish of their own, Santo Tomas de Villanueva Parish, which was followed by the establishment of new parishes in Rosario and Bicutan, Tipas and Bagong Ilog, and Barrio Capitolyo. The northeastern side of Pasig, which comprises the barangays of Manggahan, Santolan, De La Paz, Santa Lucia, and Rosario, was given to the newly established Diocese of Antipolo in 1983. Between 1985 and 1995, six chapels of the Immaculate Conception Parish were elevated as independent parishes.
Parishes belonging to the Vicariate of the Immaculate Conception and to the municipalities of Taguig and Pateros were part of the Ecclesiastical District of Makati, which was then headed by Manila Auxiliary Bishop Crisostomo Yalung. In October 2001, these parishes were carved out to form the new Ecclesiastical District of Pasig, with Most Rev. Nestor Cariño, then Secretary-General of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines, as its first district bishop. Between the years 2000 and 2003, in preparation for the erection of the new diocese, some juridical changes to the district took place. Barangays San Antonio and Oranbo, which formerly belonged to Saint Francis of Assisi Parish in Mandaluyong City, were turned over to Holy Family Parish. The military chapel of Our Lady of the Assumption in Fort Bonifacio was turned over by the Military Ordinariate to the Archdiocese of Manila in 2000 and was renamed Saint Michael Chaplaincy. Saint Joseph Chapel in Upper Bicutan, Taguig, which belonged to San Martin de Porres Parish in Parañaque City, became an independent parish under the District of Pasig in 2002.
On June 28, 2003, few months after carving out the dioceses of Paranaque and Novaliches from the Archdiocese of Manila, Pope John Paul II decreed the erection of three more new dioceses in response to the surging pastoral needs of the faithful of the archdiocese. With the promulgation of the Papal Bull Deus Caritas, the Pope officially established the new Diocese of Pasig and appointed Most Rev. Francisco Capiral San Diego, D.D., J.C.L., then bishop of San Pablo, Laguna, as its first bishop. The Vicariate of Santo Tomas de Villanueva was separated from the Diocese of Antipolo to be included in the new diocese. The diocese was canonically erected on August 21, 2003, with the installation of Bishop San Diego in the presence of the Apostolic Nuncio, Archbishop Antonio Franco, Manila Archbishop Jaime Cardinal Sin, and the bishops gracing the occasion. Bishop San Diego named the district's Episcopal Vicar, Rev. Msgr. Rodolfo Gallardo, PC as the first Vicar General, Rev. Fr. Roy Rosales as the first Chancellor, Rev. Fr. Pedro Enrique "Betbet" Rabonza IV as Judicial Vicar, Rev. Fr. Amando Litana as Superintendent of Catholic Schools, and Rev. Msgr. Manuel Gabriel, PC as the Diocesan Pastoral Director.
On December 2003, Msgr. Gallardo was installed second rector of the Immaculate Conception Cathedral-Parish. After he retired as Vicar-General and cathedral rector in February 2005, he was succeeded by Bishop San Diego as acting parish priest and rector. The bishop named Rev. Fr. Ramil Marcos, his private secretary and Vice-Chancellor, as the second Vicar General of the diocese and Rev. Fr. Roy Rosales as the fourth rector of the cathedral. In 2006, he appointed Rev. Fr. Orlando Cantillon as the new Vicar General.
During his term, Bishop San Diego worked for the improvement of the Catholic cemetery and the construction of the bishop's residence and diocesan offices within the vicinity of the cathedral. He started a retirement plan fund for the clergy and summoned a general pastoral assembly for lay leaders in the diocese. Due to the shortage of parish priests, he entrusted a number of parishes to guest priests as priests-in-charge or administrators. His term was marked by the papal canonical coronation of the image of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception of Pasig in the cathedral on December 7, 2008, the solemn declaration of San Roque Parish in Pateros as the Diocesan Shrine of Santa Marta on February 7, 2009, and the establishment of Tanyag Chapel, which belonged to Sagrada Familia Parish, as a quasi-parish on September 8, 2010.
On December 21, 2010, Pope Benedict XVI accepted San Diego's retirement as bishop and named Manila Archbishop Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales as concurrent Apostolic Administrator of the diocese. On April 20, 2011, the Pope appointed Most Rev. Mylo Hubert Claudio Vergara, D.D., M.A.Philo, STh.D, bishop of San Jose, Nueva Ecija, as the new, second bishop of Pasig. During his term, Bishop Vergara strengthened the lay evangelization programs in the diocese, invited some religious orders to administer a number of parishes in the diocese, and oversaw the inauguration of the Tahanan ng Mabuting Pastol Building within the vicinity of Santa Clara de Montefalco Parish to house the new bishop's residence and diocesan offices on April 24, 2017. On September 15, 2012, he established San Vicente Ferrer Quasi-Parish in Palar Village, Barangay Pinagsama, C-5, Taguig City and later elevated to the status of full-fledged parish the quasi-parish of Bagong Tanyag, the chaplaincy in Fort Bonifacio, and the quasi-parish of Palar.

Clergy

Bishop of Pasig

, Second Bishop

Francisco Capiral San Diego, First Bishop

Vicar-General

The Vicar-General assists the bishop in the administrative duties over the diocese. Since the time of Rev. Fr. Ramil Marcos, the Vicar-General serves also as adviser for the diocesan seminarians.
Priests with key positions to the diocese, as of November 2, 2018, are as follows:
Below is the list of priests who chair the respective diocesan ministries or commissions.
The Diocese of Pasig had 1,306,505 baptized Catholics, representing 82.7 percent of all 1,580,225 people in the territory. In 2006, the diocese recorded 36,475 baptisms and had 725 catechumens.