MANILA, Philippines – Pope Francis named Bishop Nolly Buco, a 60-year-old canon law expert, as the new head of the Diocese of Catarman after its former prelate resigned due to health reasons nearly a year ago.
The Vatican announced Buco’s appointment at 6 pm (Manila time) on Friday, October 18.
Buco, outgoing auxiliary bishop of Antipolo, has been the apostolic administrator or caretaker of the Diocese of Catarman since the retirement of Bishop Emmanuel Trance at the age of 70 — five years short of the bishops’ mandatory retirement age — on December 8, 2023.
The Diocese of Catarman covers the province of Northern Samar located in central Philippines, around 658 kilometers from the capital Manila. Created in 1974, it is one of the youngest dioceses in the country and is composed of more than 610,000 Catholics.
The new bishop of Catarman was born in Baganga, Davao Oriental, on November 27, 1963. He studied philosophy at Sacred Heart Seminary in Palo, Leyte, and theology at Immaculate Conception Major Seminary in Guiguinto, Bulacan, according to his profile on the Vatican website.
Buco earned his doctorate in canon law at the University of Santo Tomas in 2004.
Trance, when he stepped down as Catarman bishop in December 2023, said his birthplace and seminary training show why Buco is “no stranger to our region.”
It was for the Diocese of Antipolo, however, that Buco was ordained a priest on October 18, 1993. When the Vatican announced his new appointment on Friday, he was celebrating his 31st anniversary as a Catholic priest.
Aside from his duties at the Diocese of Antipolo, Buco is also the judicial vicar of the National Tribunal of Appeals of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP). This means he is the head of the CBCP body that handles church annulment cases.
Earlier this year, Buco launched his book Freeing Distressed People from Guilt, which tackles “the need for state recognition of the church’s declaration of marriage nullity.” – Rappler.com