8802Canonical_Installation_of_Dennis_Cabanada_Villarojo_49

José Serofia Palma (born 19 March 1950) is a Filipino prelate and a professed member of the

Dominican Order The Order of Preachers (, abbreviated OP), commonly known as the Dominican Order, is a Catholic Church, Catholic mendicant order of pontifical right that was founded in France by a Castilians, Castilian priest named Saint Dominic, Dominic de Gu ...

who is currently serving as the Archbishop of Cebu since 15 October 2010. He had previously served as Archbishop of Palo in

Leyte Leyte ( ) is an island in the Visayas group of islands in the Philippines. It is eighth-largest and sixth-most populous island in the Philippines, with a total population of 2,626,970 as of 2020 census. Since the accessibility of land has been ...

. He also served as president of the

Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines The Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (abbreviated as CBCP) is the permanent organizational assembly of the Catholic bishops of the Philippines exercising together certain pastoral offices for the Christian faithful of their terr ...

from 2011 to 2013.

Early life

Palma was born in

Dingle, Iloilo Dingle (, locally /ˈdiŋliʔ/), officially the Municipality of Dingle (, , ), is a 1st class municipality of the Philippines, municipality in the Philippine Province, province of Iloilo, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a popula ...

, in the

Archdiocese of Jaro The Archdiocese of Jaro (; ; ; ) is a Latin Church archdiocese of the Catholic Church headquartered in Jaro, Iloilo City, Philippines. Its episcopal see is at the Metropolitan Cathedral of St. Elizabeth of Hungary, also the National Shrine of ...

. He studied philosophy at St. Vincent Ferrer Seminary and theological studies at the St. Joseph Regional Seminary. He received his licentiate in Sacred Theology at the

Pontifical and Royal University of Santo Tomas The University of Santo Tomas (UST; ), officially the Pontifical and Royal University of Santo Tomas, The Catholic University of the Philippines or colloquially as ''Ustê'' (), is a private Catholic research university in Manila, Philippines. ...

Manila Manila, officially the City of Manila, is the Capital of the Philippines, capital and second-most populous city of the Philippines after Quezon City, with a population of 1,846,513 people in 2020. Located on the eastern shore of Manila Bay on ...

, and was

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are Consecration in Christianity, consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the religious denomination, denominationa ...

a priest for the Archdiocese of Jaro on 21 August 1976. Palma earned a doctorate from the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas, ''Angelicum'' in

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

in 1987 with a dissertation entitled ''Death as an Act: A Dialogue in Eschatology with Contemporary Theologians''.

Priesthood

After a year as assistant priest at the Jaro Cathedral, he taught at his ''

alma mater Alma mater (; : almae matres) is an allegorical Latin phrase meaning "nourishing mother". It personifies a school that a person has attended or graduated from. The term is related to ''alumnus'', literally meaning 'nursling', which describes a sc ...

'', St. Vincent Ferrer Seminary. After his studies in Rome, he became rector of the seminary until he was appointed rector of the major seminary of the Metropolitan Province of Jaro-the St. Joseph Regional Seminary, in 1988. Meanwhile, he also held various positions in several diocesan commissions. In 1997 he was made parish priest of the Parish of St Anthony of Padua in

Barotac Nuevo, Iloilo Barotac Nuevo, officially the Municipality of Barotac Nuevo (, ), is a municipality in the province of Iloilo, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 58,176 people. The town is officially known as the ''Football ...

(Archdiocese of Jaro). On 28 November 1997,

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II (born Karol Józef Wojtyła; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 16 October 1978 until Death and funeral of Pope John Paul II, his death in 2005. In his you ...

appointed him

Titular Bishop A titular bishop in various churches is a bishop who is not in charge of a diocese. By definition, a bishop is an "overseer" of a community of the faithful, so when a priest is ordained a bishop, the tradition of the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox an ...

of Vazari Diddi and Auxiliary Bishop of

Cebu Cebu ( ; ), officially the Province of Cebu (; ), is a province of the Philippines located in the Central Visayas region, and consists of a main island and 167 surrounding islands and islets. The coastal zone of Cebu is identified as a ...

. He was consecrated on 13 January 1998. Exactly a year later, he was made Bishop-Ordinary of the See of Calbayog.

As archbishop

Archbishop of Palo

On 18 March 2006, Palma was appointed Archbishop of Palo by

Pope Benedict XVI Pope BenedictXVI (born Joseph Alois Ratzinger; 16 April 1927 – 31 December 2022) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 19 April 2005 until his resignation on 28 February 2013. Benedict's election as p ...

, succeeding Archbishop-Emeritus Pedro R. Dean.

Archbishop of Cebu

On 15 October 2010 he was appointed Archbishop of Cebu, replacing Cardinal

Ricardo Vidal Ricardo Tito Jamin Vidal (February 6, 1931 – October 18, 2017) was a Filipino prelate of the Catholic Church. Made a cardinal in 1985, he was Archbishop of Cebu from 1982 to 2010. Early life and education Vidal was born on February 6, 19 ...

, who had been archbishop for 29 years. He was installed on 13 January 2011 at the Cebu Metropolitan Cathedral. He served as vice-president of the

Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines The Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (abbreviated as CBCP) is the permanent organizational assembly of the Catholic bishops of the Philippines exercising together certain pastoral offices for the Christian faithful of their terr ...

from 1 December 2009 until 11 July 2011 on which he was elected president. In 2018 he joined the

Order of Preachers The Order of Preachers (, abbreviated OP), commonly known as the Dominican Order, is a Catholic mendicant order of pontifical right that was founded in France by a Castilian priest named Dominic de Guzmán. It was approved by Pope Honorius ...

Pope Francis Pope Francis (born Jorge Mario Bergoglio; 17 December 1936 – 21 April 2025) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 13 March 2013 until Death and funeral of Pope Francis, his death in 2025. He was the fi ...

named him a member of the

Pontifical Council for Culture The Pontifical Council for Culture () was a dicastery of the Roman Curia charged with fostering the relationship of the Catholic Church with different cultures. It was erected by Pope John Paul II on 20 May 1982 and in 1993 he merged the Po ...

on 11 November 2019. In December 2024, Archbishop Palma suspended indefinitely the celebration of Traditional

Tridentine Mass The Tridentine Mass, also known as the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite or ''usus antiquior'' (), Vetus Ordo or the Traditional Latin Mass (TLM) or the Traditional Rite, is the liturgy in the Roman Missal of the Catholic Church codified in ...

(TLM) in the

Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cebu The Archdiocese of Cebu (more formally the Archdiocese of the Most Holy Name of Jesus in Cebu; ; ; ; ) is a Latin Church Diocese, archdiocese of the Catholic Church in the Philippines and one of the ecclesiastical provinces of the Catholic Chur ...

until further notice.

References

External links

*
Catholic Hierarchy Archbishop Jose S. Palma
{{DEFAULTSORT:Palma, Jose S. 21st-century Roman Catholic archbishops in the Philippines 1950 births Living people University of Santo Tomas alumni Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas alumni People from Iloilo People from Cebu City Dominican bishops Filipino Dominicans Visayan people Roman Catholic archbishops of Cebu Roman Catholic archbishops of Palo Presidents of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines