- Bishop Julio Labayen died on Wednesday at the age of 89
- Labayen was the last surviving Filipino bishop who participated in Vatican II
- He served as the former bishop of Infanta and titular bishop of Sinnuara from 1966 to 2003
The last surviving Filipino bishop who participated in the Second Vatican Council (Vatican II), which introduced reformations within the Roman Catholic Church, died on Wednesday, according an article published by GMA News Online. He was 89 years old.
Born on July 23, 1926 in Talisay City, Negros Occidental, Bishop Julio Xavier Labayen joined the Order of Discalced Carmelites (OCD) in 1945, and was appointed by Pope Paul VI as the local ordinary of the Prelature of Infanta in the Quezon province and concurrently the titular bishop of Sinnuara in 1966.
As a member of the Catholics Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), Labayen served as the first national director of the National Secretariat for Social Action (NASSA), which also serves as the local counterpart of the worldwide Catholic humanitarian orgnization Caritas Internationalis.
He was also the CBCP official who first published the IMPACT magazine, which fought against the suppression of media practitioners during the martial law regime of former President Ferdinand Marcos.
In 2003, Pope John Paul II accepted the resignation of Labayen from his episcopal post; adding the latter to the list of retired Filipino bishops.
In a press release issued by the CBCP Secretary General Fr. Marvin Mejia via the CBCP website, it was disclosed that the bishop died peacefully at 6:52 a.m. on April 27, 2016.
It was the new prelate of Infanta, Bishop Bernardino Cortez, who informed Church officials about the passing of Labayen, who was the prelature’s bishop emeritus.
“Bishop Labayen is best remembered for His pro-active witness and promotion of the social teachings of the Church,” the press release stated.
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