Dipolog Bishop Severo Caermare has been appointed overseer of Iligan Diocese. (Photo courtesy of cbcpnews.net)
Dipolog Bishop Severo Caermare has been appointed the Apostolic Administrator of Iligan Diocese, according to the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines.
The 48-year-old Caermare was appointed on Dec. 6, a day after Iligan Bishop Elenito Galido, who served the diocese for 11 years, died of liver cancer at the age of 64.
Caermare will oversee the diocese in an acting capacity until Pope Francis elects a new bishop. He was ordained a priest in 1996 and was appointed bishop of Dipolog in 2014, at the age of 45.
The Dipolog bishop oversaw the nomination and diocesan probe into the cause of martyrdom of the 17th century Jesuit missionary, Fr Francesco Palliola.
The diocese closed its probe into the life of Palliola, who is revered in the southern island of Mindanao as a patron of indigenous people, in September this year.