Pope Francis has appointed Filipino Cardinal Luis Antonio “Chito” Tagle to another Vatican post.
The former Archibishop of Manila was appointed earlier this year to the post of Prefect for Evangelization in the Vatican.
The new appointment for Cardinal Chito Tagle places the popular Catholic church leader as one of the new members of the Pontifical Council for Inter-religious Dialogue.
The Vatican announced the new post of Cardinal Tagle on July 8, 2020, along with the five other cardinals, five archbishops, and 11 bishops appointed to the Pontifical Council.
Pontifical Council for Inter-religious Dialogue is charged with the promotion of relations between Catholics and non-Catholics.
“It is responsible for promoting mutual understanding, respect, and collaboration between Catholics and followers of other religious traditions; encouraging the study of religions; and promoting the formation of persons dedicated to dialogue,” the Vatican said.
The former head of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines’ Commission on Interreligious Dialogue, Retired Archbishop Antonio Ledesma, was quoted by CBCP News as saying that Tagle’s new role sends a message to the Philippine church for the new evangelization.
“Since Cardinal Tagle comes from Asia, the birthplace of the world religions and the Philippines is practically the only majority Christian country in Asia, this sends a message to us for the new evangelization,” Ledesma said.
Cardinal Chito Tagle became cardinal in 2012. He started serving in 2015 as president of Caritas Internationalis, a confederation of Catholic charities around the world, a post that made the Filipino church leader the first Asian president of the umbrella organization of Catholic charities.
Last May 2020, Pope Francis promoted Cardinal Tagle to the order of “cardinal bishops”, the highest rank within the College of Cardinals, from where the Dean of College of Cardinals is elected. The dean presides at the conclave in the case of “sede vacante”, a period when there is no pope.
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