Pope taps another Filipino priest as bishop of Papua New Guinea diocese

Pope Francis has recently appointed a Filipino missionary priest as the new bishop of the diocese of Daru-Kiunga in Papua New Guinea.

Bishop-elect Joseph Tarife Durero, 53, of the Society of Divine Word will replace Canadian Bishop Gilles Côté of the Missionaries of the Company of Mary, who served the post for 22 years.

The pope accepted the resignation Côté after he reached the mandatory retirement age of 75 in November.

The appointment of Durero, until now the vicar general of the archdiocese of Madang on the nation’s north coast, was announced in Rome on May 23.

Born in Surigao del Norte province’s Dapa town in 1969, he made his final religious vows for the SVD on May 25, 1995.

After his philosophy and theology studies in the Philippines, Durero was ordained priest on December 12, 1995.

Following his ordination, he was sent for a mission to Papua New Guinea where he held various assignments throughout the years.

Since 2017, he has been member of the SVD council for Papua New Guinea, and from 2018 to date, administrator of Madang Cathedral.

Aside from Durero, there are two other Filipino bishops serving the Church in the southwestern Pacific country, which has 19 dioceses. They are Vincentian Bishop Rolando Santos of Alotau-Sideia and Salesian Bishop Pedro Baquero of Kerema. (CBCP News)

A version of this article was first published on CBCP News.