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Thursday, October 19, 2017
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CEBU City – Ricardo Cardinal Vidal, archbishop emeritus of Cebu and the oldest among four Filipino Roman Catholic cardinals, has died. He was 86.
“Septic shock caused by massive infections” caused his death on Wednesday, said Monsignor Joseph Tan, spokesman for the Archdiocese of Cebu.
His heart stopped beating “after several attempts to revive him,” Tan added. Vidal was pronounced dead at 7:26 a.m.
Vidal’s physician, Dr. Rene Josef Bullecer, said doctors started trying to revive Vidal at around 6:30 a.m. but to no avail.
Vidal was survived by Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma and his former priest secretaries.
Tan said the wake will be at the Cebu Metropolitan Cathedral. A mass was set at 8 p.m. Wednesday. He said details of the funeral rites will be announced soon.
Vidal’s legacy will live on, according to Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) president Archbishop Socrates Villegas.
“Cardinal Vidal cannot die. He who has always shared in the dying and rising of the Lord daily in his priestly life cannot die,” Villegas said in a statement released shortly after Vidal’s passing.
“He (Vidal) now joins the immortal ones who served the Lord faithfully here on earth,” said Villegas. “His wisdom and his humility, his love for priests and his devotion to the Virgin Mary must live on in us whom he has left behind.”
Cotabato Archbishop Orlando Cardinal Quevedo praised Vidal for being a “true servant-leader.”
“His legacy is his own outstanding character,” which includes humility, simplicity and approachability, ability to listen to opposing views, prudence in political issues, and “charity for enemies,” said Quevedo.
The archbishop also praised Vidal for his “courage in presenting and defending the CBCP position leading to the 1986 People Power.”
Vidal was admitted to the Perpetual Succour Hospital in Cebu on Oct. 11 after suffering from nausea and shortness of breath. Bullecer described him as “semi-comatose.”
Two days later, Vidal regained consciousness, an event his doctors described as a “miracle.”
On Sunday his condition was said to have slightly improved after undergoing dialysis for a bacterial infection in the blood.
A native of Mogpog, Marinduque, Vidal was ordained priest in 1956 by Bishop Alfredo Maria Aranda Obviar.
In 1982 Pope John Paul II appointed him Cebu archbishop, a position he served until his retirement in 2011.
“The Palace condoles with the Cebu faithful on the demise of Cebu Archbishop Emeritus Ricardo Cardinal Vidal this morning,” Presidential Spokesman Ernesto Abella said in a statement.
“President Rodrigo Duterte and Cardinal Vidal had a friendly, cordial relationship. The good cardinal paid a courtesy call to Malacañang shortly after [Duterte] assumed office and assured the chief executive of his fervent prayers for him and his administration.
“We are thankful for the kind bishop’s pastoral role of the Catholic faithful,” Abell said. (With reports from InterAksyon and CBCP News/PN)
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