Gaudencio Rosales

As a boy, he wanted already to become a priest. He studied theology at the San José Seminary, and had as classmates two other future bishops: Bishop Severino Pelayo, former Military Ordinary of the Philippines, and Bishop Benjamin Almoneda, former Bishop of Daet. On March 23, 1958, he was ordained priest by Bishop Alejandro Olalia and then assigned to teach for 11 years in the seminary of the Diocese of Lipa. In 1970, he was given his first parish assignment, the obscure barrio of Banay-banay. Later, he was assigned as parish priest in Batangas City.

In 1974, Fr. Rosales was named auxiliary bishop of Manila, the first Batangueño to be so named. Bishop Rosales received his crosier from the Vicar General of Lipa Venerable Alfredo María Obviar (later Bishop of Lucena) and has used it ever since. He took care of the ecclesiastical district of Eastern Rizal as well as San Juan, Mandaluyong, and Grace Park in Caloocan. Rosales was consecrated bishop of the titular see of Oescus in a ceremony on October 28, 1974, and in 1980 was appointed rector of the archdiocesan major seminary, San Carlos Seminary. On June 9, 1982, he was named coadjutor bishop of Malaybalay in Bukidnon, Mindanao, and was later canonically installed as its second bishop on September 14, 1984.

When Archbishop Mariano Gaviola of Lipa retired, Rosales was appointed his successor on December 30, 1992, bringing the latter back to the diocese where he began his ministry. With the announced retirement of Cardinal Jaime Sin, Rosales was named archbishop of Manila by Pope John Paul II on September 15, 2003. He was installed on November 21, 2003.

Rosales's elevation to the College of Cardinals was announced on February 22, 2006. Archbishop Antonio Franco, the Apostolic Nuncio, personally made the announcement at Manila Cathedral during a Mass for the 40th anniversary of the Focolare Movement.

On February 3, 2007, Rosales was appointed for a five-year term on the 15-member Council of Cardinals for the Study of Organizational and Economic Concerns of the Apostolic See. In 2008, Cardinal Rosales offered his resignation from the governance of the archdiocese, as required under canon law on reaching the age of 75, but Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re communicated that the Holy See had not accepted it. In the same year also, Cardinal Rosales invited Pope Benedict XVI to visit the Philippines, being the third largest Catholic nation in the world; however, the Pope declined due to heavy schedule.

In 2007, Cardinal Rosales argued against the National Statistics Office (NSO) requirement that all solemnizing officers/priests undergo training before conducting wedding ceremonies. He said: "We understand the concern of the National Statistics Office (NSO) because we also know of abuses done by the so-called ministers of the Gospel (not priests), but they should not be like that to us, as if we know nothing."

In 2008, Rosales clashed with Ang Ladlad founder Danton Remoto on the subject of allowing gays to participate, in drag, in the Flores de Mayo celebration. Rosales threatened parishes that permit cross-dressing homosexuals to play Saint Helena or female saints in the Santacruzan or Flores de Mayo procession with official punishment and removal from Mass.

On September 16, 2010, Cardinal Rosales issued a pastoral letter expressing the Catholic Church’s condemnation of abortion and recalling the excommunication imposed by the Church on those who procure it or help others to do so. "A deliberately procured abortion is a moral evil and the Catholic Church attaches the canonical penalty of excommunication on those who procure it and on those who help obtain abortion", the pastoral letter read.

On October 13, 2011, two months after his 79th birthday, Pope Benedict XVI finally accepted his resignation and appointed the then Bishop of Imus, Luis Antonio Tagle, as his successor. On August 10, 2012, along with the celebration of his 80th birthday, he lost his eligibility to vote on any future conclaves and thus, did not participate in the 2013 conclave that elected Pope Francis.

Cardinal watch: Cardinal Rosales turns 80

In the Philippines yesterday, the erstwhile archbishop of one of Catholicism's global hot spots turned 80. Gaudencio Borbon Cardinal Rosales thus lays down all his duties in the College of Cardinals, and the number of cardinal electors drops to 119. Born into a physician's family with political ties in Batangas City in 1932, Gaudencio Rosales expressed his…