Florentino Galang Lavarias is a Filipino

bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ...

of the

Catholic church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...

. He is the fourth and current archbishop of San Fernando. He succeeded

Paciano Aniceto Paciano Basilio Aniceto, (born March 9, 1937) is a Filipino Roman Catholic Archbishop Emeritus of the Archdiocese of San Fernando. He was the third prelate to head the Archdiocese, which is located in San Fernando City, Pampanga, Philippines. ...

as the Archbishop of San Fernando. He had previously served as the fourth Bishop of Iba.

Biography

Lavarias was born on March 14, 1957, in Santa Ines,

Mabalacat Mabalacat, officially the City of Mabalacat ( pam, Lakanbalen ning Mabalacat; fil, Lungsod ng Mabalacat), is a 3rd class component city in the province of Pampanga, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 293,244 peopl ...

. He graduated in college at the

Holy Angel University Holy Angel University is a private Catholic research university in Angeles City, Philippines. Founded in June 1933 by Don Juan Nepomuceno and Fr. Pedro Paulo Santos, who was later named as the Archbishop of Cáceres, is considered the first l ...

in 1978 before entering the

San Carlos Seminary The Royal and Conciliar San Carlos Seminary is the archdiocesan seminary of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Manila. It was established in the year 1702, by decree of King Philip V of Spain. At present, the institution houses seminarians belon ...

. He was

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the denominational hierarchy composed of other clergy) to perform ...

a priest on September 26, 1985, at the Our Lady of Grace Parish. He served various

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or ...

es under the Archdiocese of San Fernando. He was appointed

Bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ...

of the

Roman Catholic Diocese of Iba The Diocese of Iba (Lat: ''Dioecesis Ibanae'') is a Roman Rite diocese of the Latin Church of the Catholic Church in the Philippines. The diocese began on 12 June 1955 as a territorial prelature from territory in the dioceses of San Fernando, ...

. He was consecrated on August 12, 2004, at the Metropolitan Cathedral of San Fernando. His consecrator was then the Apostolic Nuncio to the Philippines, Antonio Franco while his co-consecrators are

and Gaudencio Rosales . On July 25, 2014,

Pope Francis Pope Francis ( la, Franciscus; it, Francesco; es, link=, Francisco; born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, 17 December 1936) is the head of the Catholic Church. He has been the bishop of Rome and sovereign of the Vatican City State since 13 March 2013 ...

named him as Archbishop of San Fernando (De Pampanga), succeeding Aniceto, who resigned on reaching the age limit.

References

21st-century Roman Catholic archbishops in the Philippines Living people Kapampangan people People from Mabalacat 1957 births Roman Catholic archbishops of San Fernando {{Philippines-RC-archbishop-stub