Jose Advincula

José Lázaro Fuerte Advíncula Jr. (born March 30, 1952) is a Filipino prelate of the Catholic Church and a professed member of the Dominican Order, who became 33rd Archbishop of Manila in 2021. He became a cardinal in November 2020. He previously served as Bishop of San Carlos from 2001 to 2011 and Metropolitan Archbishop of Cápiz from 2011 to 2021. On December 16, 2020, Pope Francis appointed Advincula as a member of the Dicastery for Clergy.

Early life and studies

Advíncula was born on March 30, 1952, in Dumalag, Capiz, to José Firmalino Advíncula and Carmen Falsis Fuerte. He studied at Saint Pius X Seminary High School in Roxas City where Jaime Sin became his teacher, and stayed on after graduating to study philosophy. He then earned a bachelor's degree in theology at the University of Santo Tomas in Manila.

He later studied at De La Salle University, where he earned a Master of Arts (MA) degree in Education, Major in Guidance and Counseling. He then studied canon law at the Angelicum in Rome, where he earned his licentiate. During these studies he joined the Order of Preachers.

Ministry

Priesthood

He was ordained a priest of the Archdiocese of Cápiz on April 4, 1976. He worked as spiritual director of St. Pius X Seminary while also professor and dean of studies.

After finishing his studies abroad, he returned to the Philippines and worked at the seminary of Nueva Segovia in Vigan, Ilocos Sur, and in the regional seminary of Jaro. In 1995, he became rector of St. Pius X Seminary of Cápiz; he also held positions in the administration of the archdiocese as defender of the bond, promoter of justice, and judicial vicar. In 1999, he became parish priest of Santo Tomás de Villanueva Parish in Dao, Capiz.

San Carlos episcopate

Pope John Paul II appointed him Bishop of San Carlos in Negros Occidental on July 25, 2001, and he received his episcopal consecration on September 8 before taking possession of the see three days later. During his tenure in San Carlos, he opened ten mission stations, located in far-flung areas being prepared to become full-fledged parishes. From 2003 to 2011, he was a member of the Episcopal Commission on Indigenous Peoples of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), as well as its Episcopal Commission on the Doctrine of the Faith from 2005 to 2013.

Capiz episcopate

On November 9, 2011, Pope Benedict XVI named him Archbishop of Cápiz. He was installed at the Immaculate Conception Metropolitan Cathedral in Roxas City on January 11, 2012. Advincula and fellow archbishops Luis Antonio Tagle of Manila, John F. Du of Palo, and Romulo Valles of Davao received the pallium — the symbol of their authority as metropolitan archbishops — from Benedict XVI on June 29, 2012, in Rome.

On March 3, 2023, Pope Francis appointed Baguio Bishop Victor Barnuevo Bendico (also his former vicar general) to succeed Advincula as Archbishop of Capiz.

Elevation to cardinalate

Pope Francis created him as a cardinal in a consistory on November 28, 2020, assigning him as a cardinal priest to San Vigilio in Via Paolo Di Dono. He was not able to attend the consistory because of COVID-19 pandemic risks and restrictions. In lieu of the consistory, Advincula received his scarlet biretta and ring from Charles John Brown, the Apostolic Nuncio to the Philippines, on June 18, 2021, at the Immaculate Conception Metropolitan Cathedral in Roxas City.

On December 16, 2020, he was named a member of the Congregation for the Clergy.

Tumandok killings

On January 15, 2021, all eight bishops in the ecclesiastical provinces of Capiz and Jaro—namely, Advincula, Jose Romeo Lazo, Jose Corazon Tala-oc, Narciso Abellana, Marvyn Maceda, Patricio Buzon, Gerardo Alminaza, and Louie Galbines—issued a joint pastoral letter calling for an investigation to the joint military and police operation in the towns of Tapaz in Capiz and Calinog in Iloilo on December 30, 2020, that killed nine leaders of the Tumandok indigenous people's group that opposes the Jalaur mega dam project. The families of the victims claimed that they are victims of red-tagging and that firearms and explosives were planted. The pastoral letter was read on January 24.

However, the task force to end local communist armed conflict in Western Visayas said that the bishops were misinformed and accused the bishops of not issuing statements when government forces and civilians are killed in rebel attacks. The military and the police maintained that those who were killed and arrested were leaders of the Communist Party of the Philippines and New People's Army, while relatives of the victims contend that those killed were gunned down and unarmed and that firearms were planted.

Manila episcopate

Pope Francis appointed Advincula as Archbishop of Manila on March 25, 2021, the Feast of the Annunciation. He succeeded Luis Antonio Tagle, who vacated the post on February 9, 2020, after being appointed prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples on December 8, 2019. He is the first archbishop of Manila to be already a cardinal upon appointment to the see. Past Manila archbishops were made cardinals after their installation.

Advincula was installed on June 24, 2021, the feast day of Saint John the Baptist, by Archbishop Charles John Brown, Apostolic Nuncio to the Philippines, together with Cardinals Gaudencio Rosales and Orlando Quevedo. He is the 33rd Archbishop of Manila, and the sixth native Filipino to hold the post, following centuries of Spanish, American, and Irish prelates. His installation coincided with the death of former President Benigno Aquino III, which led Advincula to offer prayers towards the end of the Mass. Advincula and Brown visited Aquino's wake at the Church of the Gesù in Quezon City the next day.

On December 8, 2021, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, Advincula received the pallium as metropolitan archbishop of the ecclesiastical province of Manila from Pope Francis, through Archbishop Brown.

On December 11, 2021, Advincula made his solemn profession as a professed member of the Priestly Fraternities of St. Dominic, a society of apostolic life under the Order of Preachers. Making his solemn profession to the prior provincial of the order in the Philippines, Filemon dela Cruz, Advincula received the white religious habit of the order.

On April 30, 2022, Advincula was installed Cardinal Priest of Parrocchia San Vigilio in Rome, Italy. On July 13, 2022, Pope Francis named him a member of the Dicastery for Bishops.

On June 3, 2023, Advincula received his honorary doctorate degree in applied theology from De La Salle University.

Following the death of Pope Francis in April 2025, Advincula participated in the ensuing conclave that elected Pope Leo XIV. He was one of the three cardinal-electors from the Philippines, alongside Luis Antonio Tagle and Pablo Virgilio David.

Advincula is the Grand Prior of the Philippines Lieutenancy of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem.

Political involvement

Following the passage of the Absolute Divorce Bill in May 2024, Advincula viewed the bill as a challenge for the Catholic Church in its ministry on the importance of the Sacrament of Matrimony. He added that the law is "not a magic pill that can solve marital problems".

Events in the Philippines under President Bongbong Marcos forced Advincula to become involved in politics. He appealed for prayer, sobriety, humility, forgiveness, reconciliation and statesmanship amid the Marcos– Duterte feud resulting in the rising contentious politics.

In the wake of rising political tensions following the arrest of Rodrigo Duterte in March 2025, Advincula issued an Oratio Imperata as the nation faces "a time of crisis, conflict and confusion".

Coat of arms

See also

* Cardinals created by Pope Francis

Notes

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Advincula, Jose
1952 births
Living people
People from Capiz
21st-century Roman Catholic archbishops in the Philippines
Roman Catholic archbishops of Manila
Dominican cardinals
Dominican bishops
Filipino cardinals
Cardinals created by Pope Francis
De La Salle University alumni
University of Santo Tomas alumni
Visayan people
Roman Catholic archbishops of Capiz
Roman Catholic bishops of San Carlos (Philippines)
Filipino Dominicans
Bishops appointed by Pope John Paul II
Bishops appointed by Pope Benedict XVI
Bishops appointed by Pope Francis
Grand Priors of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre
Members of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre