Bishop Angelito Lampon, OMI
MANILA, Oct. 30, 2012— Pope Benedict XVI has appointed Jolo Bishop Angelito Lampon, OMI, as member of the Rome-based Pontifical Council for Inter-religious Dialogue.
The appointment was made October 27 and was announced through the Vatican Information Service (VIS).
Lampon believed that the main reason for his appointment would be his assignment as Vicar Apostolic of Jolo since 1977.
“It’s so happened that I’ve been working in area where 97 percent of the populations are Tausug, Badjao and Samal,” he said.
The Council will be led by Cardinal Fernando Filoni, prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples.
Filoni served as Apostolic Nuncio to the Philippines from February 25, 2006 until his appointment as Substitute to the Secretariat of State in June 9, 2007.
As member of the agency, Lampon said he may attend the Council’s one or two meetings and receive regular correspondence from Rome on matters that need consensus from the other members.
Lampon is currently the chairman of the Commission on Inter-religious Dialogue of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines.
The other appointees include Archbishop Peter Takeo Okada of Tokyo, Japan; Archbishop Jean Benjamin Sleiman O.C.D. of Baghdad of the Latins, Iraq; Archbishop Daniel J. Bohan of Regina, Canada; Archbishop Salvatore Fisichella, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting New Evangelisation; Bishop Michel Dubost C.I.M. of Evry-Corbeil-Essonnes, Bishop Francesco Biasin of Barra do Pirai-Volta Redonda, Brazil; Bishop Joseph Chusak Sirisut of Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand; Bishop Sebastian Francis Shah O.F.M., auxiliary of Lahore, Pakistan; Bishop Michael Didi Adgum Mangoria, coadjutor of El-Obeid, Sudan; Bishop Tomo Vuksic, military ordinary of Bosnia Herzegovina, and Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah of Sokoto, Nigeria. (Melo M. Acuna/CBCPNews)
