Pope Francis appoints Filipino priest as new archbishop in Guam

MANILA, Philippines – Pope Francis has picked a Filipino priest as the new archbishop in Guam.

The Vatican City announced the appointment of Most Reverend Ryan Jimenez as the new archbishop of the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Agaña in Guam on Saturday, July 6. The installation mass of the new archbishop, who currently serves as bishop of the Diocese of Chalan Kanoa, Saipan, will be held on August 15 at the Dulce Nombre de Maria Cathedral-Basilica in Hagatna, Guam, according to the Diocese of Chalan Kanoa.

Based on the information posted by his current diocese, Archbishop-elect Jimenez was born and raised in the Philippines. In 1995, he taught at Eskuelan San Francisco de Borja, located in the Northern Mariana Islands. Four years later, in 1999, he was accepted into the seminary under the Diocese of Chalan Kanoa and was ordained as priest on June 8, 2003.

In 2010, he was appointed as Chalan Kanoa’s apostolic administrator and as its bishop in 2016.

Before he flew to Mariana Islands, Jimenez began his studies and formation for the priesthood at Saint Joseph Seminary College in Dumaguete City, Philippines, according to the Diocese of Chalan Kanoa. In college, he went to Jesuit-run San Jose Seminary and earned his undergraduate from the Ateneo de Manila University. For his advance studies, he earned three additional degrees from Saint Patrick’s Seminary and University in Menlo Park, California: Bachelor of Sacred Theology, Master of Divinity, and Master of Arts in Theology.

The Agaña’s archbishop-elect is expected to finish his Doctor of Ministry degree from the Graduate School of Religion and Religious Education at Fordham University, the Jesuit University of New York, in 2025.

The Diocese of Chalan Kanoa said Jimenez currently serves as the president of CEPAC, the Episcopal Conference of the Pacific (Conferentia Episcopalis Pacifici), and the vice president of the Federation of Catholic Bishops Conferences of Oceania. The said organization is composed of the bishops conferences of Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, and CEPAC.

The archbishop-elect also serves as consultant to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishop subcommittee on Asian and Pacific Islander affairs. – Rappler.com