Pope appoints Msgr. Galbines as new bishop of Kabankalan

Pope Francis has appointed Monsignor Louie Galbines as the next bishop of the Diocese of Kabankalan in Negros Occidental.He replaces Bishop Patricio Buzon who was transferred to the Bacolod diocese in 2016 after serving Kabakanlan for 13 years.Upon his appointment, the third Kabakalan bishop has been serving as the vicar general of the Diocese of Bacolod.Born in Sagay City on November 18, 1966, Galbines completed his philosophical and theological studies at the University of Santo Tomas in Manila.He was ordained a priest for the diocese of Bacolod on 29 April 1994.Galbines, 51, then served as deputy dean and spiritual director at the Sacred Heart Seminary in Bacolod City and chancellor and secretary of the diocesan Curia of Bacolod from 1994 to 1996.Three years after his ordination, he continued his education at the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas in Rome where he obtained a licentiate and a doctorate in sacred theology in 2001.On his return to Bacolod, other posts he held included president of the diocesan Commission for the Clergy as well as parish vicar of the Saint Sebastian parish from 2007 to 2012.In 2012, he became rector of the Sacred Heart Seminary and, in 2013, vicar general of the same diocese.