Marcos welcomes Vatican foreign minister to Manila

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. welcomes Vatican Secretary for Relations with States and International Organizations Archbishop Paul Gallagher during a courtesy call in Malacañang on Tuesday, July 2. | Photo from PCO

MANILA, Philippines — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Tuesday met with Vatican Secretary for Relations with States and International Organizations Archbishop Paul Gallagher in Malacañang.

According to the Presidential Communications Office (PCO), Gallagher visited Malacañang during a five-day visit to the Philippines.

“It’s a great pleasure to welcome you here in Manila,” Marcos told Gallagher, as quoted by the PCO in a statement.

Marcos then highlighted to Gallagher the country’s diplomatic ties with the Holy See, spanning 73 years since it was established on April 8, 1951.

“We have continued to work in very close consonance with the Vatican for many, many years now,” Marcos said.

“We claim to be not only a Catholic country but a very Catholic country,” he added.

Before his courtesy call to Marcos, Gallagher also met with Foreign Affairs Sec. Enrique Manalo where the two discussed various issues including developments in the West Philippine Sea.

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Gallagher is then set to visit Malaybalay, Bukidnon to participate in the Plenary Session of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines on July 3, before celebrating Mass with the bishops in the Abbey of the Transfiguration in Malaybalay on July 4.

He will then deliver an address at the Foreign Service Institute of the Department of Foreign Affairs on July 5.