Msgr. Jan Thomas Limchua (left) and Fr. Hezron Jhud Cartagena (right) (Photo courtesy of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cebu)
MANILA – Pope Francis has appointed two Cebuano priests to different offices in the Vatican.
In a radio interview Thursday, Archdiocese of Cebu spokesperson Msgr. Joseph Tan said Msgr. Jan Thomas Limchua was appointed as Counselor of the Apostolic Nunciature of the Kingdom of the Netherlands while Fr. Hezron Jhud Cartagena was named as attaché of the Apostolic Nunciature of the Ivory Coast.
He believed that Pope Francis' appointment of Filipino priests indicates the full trust in the ability of Filipinos to administer and be missionaries in various parts of the world.
Tan added that Limchua and Cartagena are the third and fourth Cebuano priests, respectively, to enter the Diplomatic Service of the Holy See after siblings Apostolic Nuncio Emeritus of Korea, Archbishop Osvaldo Padilla, and Apostolic Nuncio to Guatemala, Archbishop Francisco Padilla.
In 2020, Limchua served as an official of the Section for the Relations with States in the Vatican under the Secretariat of State of the Holy See and became a Papal Chaplain.
He started in the diplomatic service in September 2014 and served in the Apostolic Nunciature of Benin and Togo in West Africa and Egypt.
He completed his theological studies at the Faculty of Theology at the University of Navarre in Pamplona, Spain, and his doctorate in Canon Law at the Pontifical Lateran University in Rome.
Limchua was ordained priest in the Archdiocese of Cebu in 2010, and underwent diplomatic formation at the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy, the Vatican's diplomatic school.
On the other hand, Cartagena completed his missionary year in Brazil where his assignment to the Ivory Coast was a sign of being an official member of the Diplomatic Service of the Vatican. (PNA)
