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POPE FRANCIS APPOINTS FR. REYNALDO GETALADO, MSP, AS COADJUTOR BISHOP OF RAROTONGA

POPE FRANCIS APPOINTS FR. REYNALDO GETALADO, MSP, AS COADJUTOR BISHOP OF RAROTONGA

FR. REYNALDO B. GETALADO, an MSP missionary to the Mission Sui Iuris of Funafuti, Tuvalu, was elected by the Holy Father, Pope Francis as the new Coadjutor Bishop in the Cook Islands. His appointment was made public on December 8, 2023, Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of Blessed Virgin Mary, 12:00 noon, Italian time. Fr. Getalado will be assisting the Most. Rev. Paul Donoghue, SM, Bishop of Rarotonga, Cook Islands. A coadjutor bishop has a right of succession.

Fr Getalado, 64 years old, hails from Muntinlupa City. He earned a bachelor's degree in Zoology at the Far Eastern University in Manila in 1979. Afterwards, he entered the MSP Seminary in Tagaytay City. He finished his philosophical and theological courses at the Divine Word Seminary in Tagaytay City. He was ordained to the priesthood on August 4, 1988.

After his ordination, he was sent to the Diocese of Daru-Kiunga in Papua New Guinea and served there for eleven years. Afterwards, he was transferred to the Diocese of Auckland in New Zealand and worked there for three years, 2000-2003. From 2003-2004, he served as parochial vicar of the Parish of the Our Lady of the Abandoned, Mandaluyong, Philippines.  Then, he took a short break before he was sent back to Papua New Guinea. In 2005-2014, he worked in the Diocese of Bougainville, an autonomous region in Papua New Guinea. Since 2014 until the present, he is the Ecclesiastical Superior of the Mission Sui Iuris of Funafuti, Tuvalu.

The Cook Islands is a self-governing island country in the South Pacific Ocean in free association with New Zealand. It comprises 15 islands whose total land area is 236.7 square kilometres (91 sq mi). The Diocese of Rarotonga was erected on 22nd June 1966. (Vic. Ap. Cook Islands 1948) It is under the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Suva, Fiji. It has a Catholic Population of 2,045 faithful, 4 Priests and 20 Catechists.

Mission Sui Iuris of Funafuti and the Catholic Diocese of Rarotonga belong to a conference of bishops called the Episcopal Conferences of the Pacific or CEPAC. Both also are under the Dicastery for Evangelization, Section for First Evangelization and New Particular Churches, the pro-prefect is his Eminence Cardinal Luis Antonio G. Tagle.

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