Socrates Villegas

Biography

Archbishop Socrates B. Villegas has been the metropolitan Archbishop of Lingayen Dagupan since his appointment by Pope Benedict XVI in September 8, 2009. He is also the president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines. Due to the sudden death of the Bishop of San Fernando de La Union he was also appointed apostolic administrator of the vacant see from November 16, 2011 until October 11 the following year in a concurrent capacity. Prior to his assignment in Lingayen Dagupan, he served as Bishop of Balanga from 2004 until his transfer to his current see. He was auxiliary bishop of Manila from August 31, 2001 until his transfer to Balanga. He was ordained priest on October 5, 1985 and consecrated bishop on August 31, 2001 by the late Jaime Cardinal Sin whom he served as private secretary for 18 years. Prior to his appointment as bishop, he was the first rector of the EDSA Shrine.

He was past chairman of the Episcopal Commission for Catechesis and Catholic Education of the CBCP and formerly a member of the Pontifical Council for the Family of the Holy See. He is a professed member of the Secular Franciscan Order (SFO) and a novice in the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Dominic in the Philippines. He was a synodal father in the Synod of Bishops of 2012 and 2014.

In the secular field, he was one of the Ten Outstanding Young Men of the Philippines (TOYM) in the year 2000 and a Catholic Authors Awardee in 1994. The Bataan Peninsula State University conferred upon him a doctor of humanities degree honoris cause in recognition of his work for the Province of Bataan. He authored nine books of homilies and spiritual meditations.

He went through basic education at the Pateros Elementary School, Pateros Catholic School and Colegio de San Juan de Letran. He studied for the priesthood at San Carlos Seminary with an M.A. in Theological Studies.

The youngest of the three children of the Emiliano Villegas and Norma Buenaventura both from Pateros, he was born on September 28, 1960.

Activity

He is a member of the Secular Franciscan Order (OFS), the Sovereign Military Order of Malta and the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem. He was the CEO of the Tenth World Youth Day held in Manila in 1995 and the Fourth World Meeting of Families in 2002.

In August 2005, Villegas told Filipino Catholics that they "cannot participate in any way or even attend religious or legal ceremonies that celebrate and legitimize homosexual unions".

Philippine politics

Villegas is also a very controversial figure in the Philippines due to his stances on political issues like RH Bill, the re-imposition of death penalty (which the Church in the Philippines long opposed), alleged human rights violations, killing of criminals, extrajudicial killings under the Duterte administration, and the Marcos burial at LNMB . His statements on the 31st anniversary of EDSA 1986 has also earned more ire from Rodrigo Duterte's daughter, current Davao City mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio, who has coined Villegas as "worse than a hundred President Dutertes".

Coat of arms

The two sides of the coat of arms are divided by a TAU cross in the middle. The right side is the personal seal of the archbishop. The left side is the seal of the Archdiocese of Lingayen-Dagupan.