Tagle Among 2 Favorites To Succeed Pope Francis – Report

Former Manila archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle is reportedly one of the cardinals being eyed to succeed Pope Francis, who is having health problems.

A report published in the London-based Catholic Herald stated that Tagle and Esxtergom-Budapest Archbishop Peter Cardinal Erdo of Hungary are the leading candidates to succeed Francis.

While various names of cardinals are being floated, the report also said that Pope Francis favors either Tagle or Italian Cardinal and Vatican Secretary of State Pietro Parolin to be his successor.

Tagle left the Manila archbishop post in February 2020 after Pope Francis named him head of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples and Grand Chancellor of the Pontifical University Urbaniana.

Francis also named Tagle as a member of the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See (APSA) on Feb. 22, 2021, which serves as the Vatican’s central bank, and of the Cardinal Commission for the supervision of the Institute for the Works of Religion (IOR).

The pope co-opt Tagle in the Order of Bishops, equating him in all aspects to the cardinals who were given the title of a suburbicarian Church, according to Vatican News.

Tagle is a member of the Dicasteries for Culture and Education, Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life for Oriental Churches, Divine Worship and Discipline of the Sacraments, Legislative Texts and inter-religious dialogues. Vatican records showed Tagle received his religious instruction at the St. Andrew’s School in Parañaque City.

He entered the inter-diocesan at the St. Jose Seminary in Manila and studied philosophy at the Ateneo de Manila University and theology at the Loyola School of Theology.

Tagle was ordained priest on Feb. 27, 1982 and served as spiritual director of the Diocesan Theological Seminary in Imus, Cavite, where he became rector until he was appointed parish priest of the Our Lady of Pilar Cathedral in 1998.

He was appointed Bishop of Imus on Oct. 22, 2001 and ordained bishop on Dec. 12, 2001. Tagle was Archbishop of Manila from Oct. 13, 2011 to Dec. 12 of the same year. He was proclaimed cardinal by former pope Benedict XVI on Nov. 24, 2012.

As this developed, Papal Nuncio Charles Brown renewed his call for Filipinos to pray for the immediate recovery of Pope Francis.

“Let us continue to pray for the health of Pope Francis, especially since he is scheduled to visit Kazakhstan. Let us entrust him to the maternal care of the Blessed Mother Mary for his strength,” Brown said in an interview with Church-run Radyo Veritas.

Brown assured Catholic devotees that Pope Francis would continue to serve the faithful around the world.