MANILA, Philippines – Pope Francis named a Tacloban-born priest, Father Erwin Jose Balagapo, as one of two new office heads at the Vatican department led by former Manila archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle.

In a bulletin published Tuesday evening, July 18, the Vatican announced that the Pope named Balagapo and Han Hyun-taek as new office heads at the Dicastery for Evangelization at the Vatican. Balagapo and Han will serve at one of two sections at the dicastery, the Section for the First Evangelization and the New Particular Churches. 

Balagapo and Han were previously officials of the same dicastery. Now as office heads, they will serve a five-year term.

Balagapo, 52, is a priest under the Archdiocese of Palo in Leyte. Born in Tacloban City on March 8, 1971, he was ordained to the priesthood on July 12, 1996.

Balagapo had been working at the dicastery since 2015 after finishing further studies in Rome, according to the news service of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines. This means Balagapo had been with the dicastery four years before the Pope named Tagle prefect of what was then the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples.

The Pope has since reorganized the Vatican bureaucracy, and has renamed the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples as the Dicastery for Evangelization.

The Dicastery for Evangelization is now headed by the Pope himself, making it the only Vatican department where the Holy Father is prefect. 

Tagle is now pro-prefect of the Section for the First Evangelization and the New Particular Churches while Archbishop Rino Fisichella heads the Section on Fundamental Questions regarding Evangelization in the World.

‘Distinguished for experience, expertise’

The apostolic constitution Praedicate Evangelium (Preach the Gospel) explains the criteria for officials such as Balagapo.

“The officials are selected, as far as possible, from various regions of the world, so that the Curia may reflect the universal character of the Church,” states the 2022 document, which outlines the structure of the Vatican bureaucracy called the Roman Curia.

“They are taken from among clerics, members of Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life and the laity, who are distinguished for their experience, proven expertise attested by appropriate academic degrees, virtue and prudence. They should be chosen by objective and transparent criteria, and should have a suitable number of years of pastoral experience,” according to Praedicate Evangelium. 

Balagapo is among the growing number of Filipino clergymen appointed to high positions in the Catholic Church.

Among these high-ranking Filipino priests and bishops are Archbishop Bernardito Auza of Talibon, Bohol, who is now papal nuncio to Spain, and Father Gerard Francisco Timoner III of Daet, Camarines Norte, the first Filipino and first Asian head of the worldwide Dominican order, formally known as the Order of Preachers. – Rappler.com