Pope Francis has appointed a Filipino priest as the new undersecretary of a section of the Dicastery for Evangelization in the Vatican.
The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) News reported that 53-year-old Msgr. Erwin Jose Balagapo was promoted to the post on Thursday.
He had been serving as head of the office in the section “for the first evangelization and new particular churches” since July 2023.
The department is currently headed by pro-prefect Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, former archbishop of the Archdiocese of Manila.
The Holy Father is the head of the dicastery, which was established in 2022 by the apostolic constitution Praedicate Evangelium, replacing the former Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, also known as “Propaganda Fide.”
Balagapo is from Sulat, Eastern Samar. Ordained for the Archdiocese of Palo in 1996, he has held several roles, including professor of canon law, head of ongoing formation for the clergy, judicial vicar, and chancellor of the archdiocese.
In Rome, he earned a Doctorate in Canon Law from the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross and a Licentiate in Moral Theology from the former Pontifical Institute John Paul II.
As a canon lawyer, he has worked at the Vatican dicastery since 2015, following his advanced studies in Rome.(PNA)