LINGAYEN-DAGUPAN ARCHDIOCESE

BINMALEY—Pope Francis has appointed the parish priest of Our Lady of Purification Parish in this town as Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Lingayen-Dagupan.

The appointment of Fr. Fidelis Layog was made public in Rome at 12 noon (7:00 p.m. local time) on March 18..

Layo, born in Dagupan City on November 20, 1968, studied philosophy at the Mary Help of Christians College Seminary and theology at the Immaculate Conception School of Theology in Vigan City.

After his priestly ordination on April 29, 1996, Layog spent the first four years of priesthood as Prefect of Discipline at the Mary Help of Christians High School Seminary in Dagupan City.

In 2003, he also obtained a degree in Biblical Theology from the Pontifical University of St. Thomas in Rome.

Layog also served as parish priest of the Holy Family Parish in Sta. Barbara in 2006-2009, Parish Priest of Sts. Peter and Paul Parish in Calasiao, and Vicar Forane in 2011-2014. He was director of Mapandan Catholic School in 2014-2016 and director of St. Columban Institute of Domalandan in Lingayen, Pangasinan in 2017.

As auxiliary bishop, Layog will assist Archbishop Socrates Villegas in running the archdiocese.

In his Facebook post, Layog thanked the people for their prayers, warm greetings and best wishes following his appointment as auxiliary bishop-elect.

“Thank you for always being with me every step in my priestly vocation. God bless,” he said. “I prayed so hard to understand the call of God for me. I realized that it is not understanding that I needed to hold on… but only faith and trust in God. The more I have to pray to God. The more I have to trust in God’s Word,” he added.

He asked the faithful to pray for him and to pray with him always, even as he added that, “Everything is grace”.

The episcopal ordination of Layog as auxiliary bishop will be on May 8 at 9 a.m. at the Cathedral of Saint John the Evangelist in Dagupan City.

“We thank the Lord and the Holy See for the grace of a new bishop from among the local clergy of the Archdiocese of Lingayen Dagupan,” Villegas said. “The appointment of Bishop Fidelis Layog is a sterling recognition of the maturity of our Catholic faith and the richness of our local presbyterium”. (PhilStar Wire Service)

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