Pope names new bishop of Pagadian

Pope Francis has appointed Fr. Ronald Lunas as the new bishop of the Diocese of Pagadian in Zamboanga del Sur.Lunas, until now the parish priest of St. Joseph the Worker Parish in Sta. Cruz, Davao del Sur, will succeed Redemptorist Bishop Emmanuel Cabajar, 76, whose resignation was accepted by the pope.The appointment and retirement were announced Thursday, Nov. 22, at 12 noon in Rome (7pm local time).The bishop-elect was born in Bala, Magsaysay, in the Diocese of Digos on Nov. 27, 1966.After his philosophy courses at the St. Francis Xavier College Seminary in Davao City, he studied theology at St. Francis Regional Major Seminary in the same city.He was ordained a priest for the Digos diocese on April 7, 1992, and was assigned as parochial vicar at the parish of the Immaculate Conception in Caburan.In 1996, he finished his Licentiate in Sacred Theology at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome.After his studies in Rome, he was first Professor and then Dean of the St. Francis Xavier Regional Major Seminary. From 2005 to 2008, he was assigned as Chancellor of Digos. In 2008 he became parish priest of the parish of St. Isidro Labrador in Davao City.Since 2013, he has been serving as the Episcopal Vicar for the Clergy, Member of the College of Consultors and of the Presbyteral Council.Meanwhile, the pope has appointed Cabajar as Apostolic Administrator sede vacante of the diocese until Lunas takes canonical possession.