Pope Francis has appointed Most Reverend Midyphil Billones, the auxiliary bishop of Cebu, as the new archbishop of Jaro.
The appointment was announced by the Jaro Archdiocese during the feast of the Nuestra Señora de la Candelaria (Our Lady of Candles) in Iloilo City on Sunday, Feb. 2.
Billones, 55, will replace now-retired Archbishop Jose Romeo Lazo, who served the archdiocese for nearly seven years.
As the 14th archbishop of Jaro, he will lead the archdiocese, which covers the province and city of Iloilo, as well as the island province of Guimaras.
Billones, a native Panay town, in Capiz province, studied his Philosophy at St. Vincent Ferrer Seminary in Iloilo City and Theology at Loyola School of Theology in Quezon City, where he also earned a master’s degree in Theology.
In 2011, he earned a Doctorate in Theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome.
Billones was serving as rector of St. Joseph Regional Seminary of Jaro when Pope Francis appointed him auxiliary bishop of Cebu in July 2019.IMT/with a report from CBCP News
