Former bishop of Virac and Legazpi dies

Bishop emeritus Jose “Ping” Crisologo Sorra, former bishop of the Roman Catholic dioceses of Virac and Legazpi, died Thursday, January 21. He was 91 years old.

The CBCP News said that prior to his passing, Sorra was the oldest Roman Catholic Bishop in the Philippines.

Bishop Joel Baylon, current prelate of the Diocese of Legazpi, said that Sorra died around Thursday midnight, succumbing to respiratory failure, secondary to pulmonary embolism.

Bishop Sorra’s wake will be held at St Gregory the Great Cathedral here until January 26. “We ask for your prayers for his eternal rest,” Bishop Baylon said.

Sorra was born on March 9, 1929, and was ordained priest on March 17, 1957. On May 27, 1974, he was appointed as bishop of Virac.

After more than two decades, he was appointed as bishop of Legazpi on March 1, 1993. He served that post until Pope Benedict XVI accepted his resignation and retirement on April 1, 2005.

The St Raphael the Archangel Parish led by Fr. Dave Ramoso said on a social media post that Bishop Sorra frequently visited their parish. After 3 typhoons pummeled Bicol in succession in 2020, Sorra reached out to people overseas to ask for help in rebuilding the houses of residents of Sogod village in Bacacay town where the prelate resided after his retirement.

He lived in the Bethlehem Retreat House in Bacacay along with fellow Bishop Emeritus Lucilo “Liloy” Quiambao.

“Until the last months of his life you were a shepherd who cared so much for your sheep,” the St. Raphael the Archangel Parish posted in its social media page said.   

Bishop Baylon said Sorra’s remains will be buried in Virac. – Rappler.com