HomeDiocesan ReportsNew auxiliary bishop for Archdiocese of Cebu ordained

New auxiliary bishop for Archdiocese of Cebu ordained

“I stand before you honored, yet humbled by this sacred office that Mother Church has entrusted to me,” said Bishop Labajo

The new auxiliary bishop for the Archdiocese of Cebu, Msgr. Ruben Labajo, was ordained at the Cebu Metropolitan Cathedral on Friday, August 19.

Bishop Dennis Villarojo of Malolos, who served as one of the consecrators, said Labajo’s motto — “To walk humbly before God” — “resonates loudly in our times where there is so much confusion about goodness, about justice and how to walk humbly before God.”

“He asks you to bring peace to every home you visit but perhaps you could also announce justice, without which there could be no peace,” said Bishop Villarojo in his homily.

“He asks you to leave behind your sources of insecurity, to trust in God’s providence alone for that is what it means to walk humbly with your God,” he said.



Bishops Villarojo and Labajo were classmates in philosophy at the San Carlos Seminary College in Cebu. They were also ordained priests at the same time in 1994.

Bishop Labajo, 55, was named bishop June 23 by Pope Francis to assist Archbishop Jose Palma of Cebu and Auxiliary Bishop Midyphil Billlones in shepherding the clergy, religious and laypeople of the archdiocese.

Cebu’s Auxiliary Bishop Ruben Labajo (Photo courtesy of the Archdiocese of Cebu via CBCP News)

At the time of his appointment, he was serving at the St. Francis of Assisi Parish in Balamban, Cebu and as vicar general of the archdiocese since 2019.

- Newsletter -

“I stand before you honored, yet humbled by this sacred office that Mother Church has entrusted to me,” Bishop Labajo said.

“This gift from God is indeed a cause of rejoicing for me and for many, yet at the same time there is trepidation in my heart considering the weight of this tremendous responsibility placed on my shoulders,” he said.

The bishop also thanked the pope for the appointment, which he described as a “new call of duty.”

“I hope and pray that, with God’s grace, I will prove myself worthy of his faith and trust in me,” he said.

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