Church leaders mourn death of Bishop Padilla

“We are deeply grateful for his generosity and availability as presider of various FABC plenary assemblies and programs as well as his valuable contributions during the central committee executive and offices meetings.” (File Photo: Riley Kaminer/Flickr, CC BY 2.0)

MANILA — Catholic leaders in Asia are mourning the passing of 68-year-old Filipino Bishop Wenceslao Padilla.

The Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences (FABC) expressed sadness over the death of the First prelate of Mongolia, who succumbed to heart attack on Tuesday.

Fr. William LaRousse, FABC Acting Assistant Secretary General, also acknowledged Padilla, who represented the other associate members of the body’s central committee over the past nine years — from 2009 to 2017 — as he served three terms.

“We are deeply grateful for his generosity and availability as presider of various FABC plenary assemblies and programs as well as his valuable contributions during the central committee executive and offices meetings,” he said in an article posted on the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) news website.

Padilla was found lifeless at his office in Ulaanbaatar at around 7 p.m., local time on Sept. 25, according to Congregation of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (CICM).

After an investigation, local authorities have ruled out foul play in the sudden death of the Catholic prelate. The Congregation said the prelate “has a history of heart problem”.

His funeral will be held in Ulaanbaatar Cathedral on October 14.

Padilla was ordained a priest for the CICM in 1976 and sent to Taiwan the following year on his first mission assignment.

From 1985 to 1990, he served as Provincial Superior of the Chinese Provinces of CICM, which also covers Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore.

Two years later, together with two other confreres, he started a new mission in Mongolia that the Vatican had entrusted to CICM.

As the superior of the mission, he was made Prefect of Ulaanbaatar in 2002 and was appointed as Mongolia’s first bishop the following year.

After 25 years of church’s presence in Mongolia, the country now has over 60 missionaries from 12 religious congregations serving about 1,200 Catholics in six parishes.