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The new Archbishop of Cagayan de Oro was installed on Friday, August 28, on the feast of St. Augustine, the city’s patron saint.
Archbishop Jose Araneta Cabantan, former Bishop of the Diocese of Bukidnon, succeeded Archbishop Antonio Ledesma, SJ, who reached 75, the mandatory age for retirement, in 2018, but served for two more years until Pope Francis named his successor two months ago.
Cabantan is the fifth Archbishop of Cagayan de Oro.
In pre-COVID-19 times, an installation of an Archbishop is a grand celebration and the 1,200-seater St. Augustine Metropolitan Cathedral would have been jampacked. Bishops from all over the country, particularly those in Mindanao, would have been in attendance and hundreds of priests and nuns in the Archdiocese would have been there, along with the parishioners to welcome the head of the Church.
But only a limited number was allowed inside the Cathedral due to restrictions under the Modified General Community Quarantine.
Mindanao’s lone Cardinal, Orlando Quevedo, the Archbishop Emeritus of the Archdiocese of Cotabato, led the installation rites. (Froilan Gallardo / MindaNews)