New Manila prelate, Catholic Church leaders offer prayers for departed former president

Cardinal Jose Advincula, new archbishop of Manila, led Church leaders in offering prayers for the country’s former president, Benigno Aquino III, who died on June 24.

“We have been informed of the sad news of the passing away of our former president,” said the cardinal before the end of his installation as the 33rd archbishop of the national capital on the same day.

“Let us entrust him to the mercy of our loving father and let us now pray for the eternal repose of his soul,” said the cardinal.

“Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him. May his soul, and the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace,” prayed Cardinal Advincula.

Aquino, who served as the country’s 15th president from 2010 to 2016, died in a hospital in Manila. He was 61 years old.

“As president, [Aquino] proved himself to be a worthy son of such great parents to whom the nation is indebted for the restoration of democracy in our country,” said Bishop Pablo Virgilio David of Kalookan.

Aquino was the son of former senator Benigno Aquino Jr. and former president Corazon Aquino.

Known popularly as “Noynoy,” he rode a wave of public support to the presidency after the 2009 death of his mother.

Aquino’s father and namesake, Benigno Jr., was a staunch opposition leader during the rule of strongman Ferdinand Marcos. He was assassinated when he returned home from political exile in 1983.

The killing shocked the nation and helped propel Marcos out of office in the 1986 “People Power” revolution and ushered in the presidency of Aquino’s mother, Corazon. - LiCAS.news