Church Roman Catholic Church In office 2003 – present Nationality Italian Ordination 17 March 1976 Appointed 2 August 2003 Spoken style Excellency | See Ulaanbaatar Predecessor Everard Ter Laak Residence Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia Consecration 29 August 2003 Reference style The Most Reverend | |
Diocese Apostolic Prefecture of Ulaanbaatar Born 29 September 1949 (age 67)
Tubao, Philippines ( 1949-09-29 ) | ||
Wenceslao Selga Padilla (Tubao, 29 September 1949) is a Scheut priest who from 2 August 2003 was the Apostolic prefect of the Apostolic Prefecture of Ulaanbaatar, a diocese of the Roman Catholic Church in Mongolia.
Biography
Born in 1949 in Tubao, he comes from a Catholic family; his father was a catechist. In 1960 he entered the seminary and in 1976 was ordained a priest for Scheut Missionaries. He was a missionary in Taiwan and, for six years, a provincial superior of the Chinese provinces of his Order.
When in 1991 Mongolia and the Holy See established diplomatic relations, he was sent as a missionary to Urga (the old name of Ulanbataar). On 19 April 1992 he was appointed ecclesiastical superior of the mission sui iuris of Urga. He began taking care of street children, the homeless, disabled and old.
When on 8 July 2002, Pope John Paul II established the Apostolic Prefecture of Ulaanbaatar, Father Padilla became its first prefect. On 2 August 2003 he received the episcopal dignity, he received the titular see of Tharros. He received episcopal consecration on 29 August 2003 by cardinal Crescenzio Sepe, in the Ulanbataar cathedral.
He continues in his ministry giving help to homeless and orphans.