The Archdiocese of Manila (; ; ) is a Latin Church archdiocese of the Catholic Church in Metro Manila, Philippines. Its territory covers the cities of Manila, Makati, Mandaluyong, Pasay, and San Juan; the Embo barangays of Taguig that were formerly part of Makati; and the EDSA Shrine in Quezon City. Its episcopal see is the Minor Basilica and Metropolitan Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, also known as the Manila Cathedral, located in Intramuros, the old colonial city of Manila. The Blessed Virgin Mary, under the title of the Immaculate Conception, is principal patroness of the archdiocese as well as the country.
The Archdiocese of Manila is the oldest in the Philippines, created in 1579 as a diocese and elevated to the rank of metropolitan archdiocese in 1595. Since its last territorial changes in 2003, the Archdiocese of Manila is the metropolitan see of the ecclesiastical province of the same name, which includes seven dioceses in other parts of the National Capital Region such as Antipolo (Marikina), Cubao, Kalookan, Novaliches, Parañaque, Malolos (Valenzuela), and Pasig, as well as four dioceses in the surrounding provinces of Cavite (Diocese of Imus), Rizal (Diocese of Antipolo), Bulacan (Diocese of Malolos), and Laguna (Diocese of San Pablo).
The archdiocese is also de facto overseer of the Military Ordinariate of the Philippines, as well as the apostolic vicariates of Puerto Princesa and Taytay in Palawan, alongside all exempt dioceses of the Holy See (with the vicariates under the jurisdiction of the Dicastery for Evangelization).
The archdiocese also owns, operates, and manages various extraterritorial assets and temporalities, such as the radio station DZRV Radio Veritas 846 kHz along with Our Lady of Veritas Chapel (both in Quezon City) and its transmitter (Taliptip, Bulakan); the Mount Peace and Saint Michael retreat houses (Baguio City and Antipolo City); and Redemptoris Mater Archdiocesan Seminary of the Neocatechumenal Way (Parañaque City) located at the dioceses of Cubao, Malolos, Baguio, Antipolo, and Parañaque, respectively. Additionally, the archdiocese is among the top 100 shareholders of the Bank of the Philippine Islands.
Since June 24, 2021, Cardinal Jose Advincula has been the 33rd archbishop of Manila.
History
Per the efforts of conquistador Martín de Goiti – who founded the City of Manila by uniting the dominions of Sulayman III of Namayan, Sabag, Rajah Ache Matanda of Maynila who was a vassal to the Sultan of Brunei, and Lakan Dula of Tondo who was a tributary to Ming dynasty China – the Diocese of Manila was established on February 6, 1579, through the papal bull Illius Fulti Præsidio by Pope Gregory XIII, encompassing all Spanish colonies in Asia as a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Mexico. Fray Domingo de Salazar, a Dominican from the Convent of San Sebastian in Salamanca, Spain, was selected by King Philip II of Spain to be bishop of the new diocese and was presented to the pope.. Manila Metropolitan Cathedral-Basilica Official Website. Retrieved on March 22, 2013.
Over the course of history and growth of Catholicism in the Philippines, the diocese was elevated in rank and new dioceses had been carved from its territory. On August 14, 1595, Pope Clement VIII raised the diocese to the status of an archdiocese with Bishop Ignacio Santibáñez its first archbishop. Three new dioceses were created as suffragans to Manila: Nueva Cáceres, Nueva Segovia, and Cebu. With the creation of these new dioceses, the territory of the archdiocese was reduced to the city of Manila and the adjoining civil provinces in proximity including Mindoro Island. It was bounded to the north by the Diocese of Nueva Segovia, to the south by the Diocese of Cebu, and to the southeast by the Diocese of Nueva Cáceres.. Manila Metropolitan Cathedral-Basilica Official Website. Retrieved on March 22, 2013.
During the Spanish period, the archdiocese was ruled by a succession of Spanish and Latino archbishops. In the 1600s, Fr. Joaquín Martínez de Zúñiga conducted a census of the Archdiocese of Manila, which encompassed most of Luzon, and he reported 90,243 native Filipino tributes; 10,512 Chinese (Sangley) and mixed Chinese Filipino mestizo tributes; and 10,517 mixed Spanish Filipino mestizo tributes. Pure Spaniards were excluded as they were exempt from tribute, with each tribute representing an average family of 6. Out of these, Martínez extrapolated a total population count exceeding half a million souls.
The 1762 British occupation of Manila during the Seven Years' War saw the temporary conversion of Sultan Azim ud-Din I of Sulu to Catholicism, the massive looting and destruction of ecclesiastical treasures, as well as the burning of churches by British soldiers, Sepoy mercenaries, and rebellious Chinese residents in Binondo. This episode was particularly damaging to Philippine scholarship as the monasteries holding archives and artefacts on the pre-colonial Philippine Rajahnates, Kedatuans, Sultanates, Lakanates, and Wangdoms and their conversion to Catholicism were either burnt, lost, or looted. An example would be the Boxer Codex, whose earliest owner Lord Giles of Ilchester had inherited it from an ancestor who stole it during the British Occupation.
Nevertheless, peace was subsequently restored after, Catholic religious orders became the powerful driving force in the Archdiocese of Manila (with the exception of the Jesuits who were temporarily suppressed in Spanish lands due to their role in anti-imperialist movements in Latin America like the Paraguayan Reductions). Local Filipino secular clergy resented the foreign religious orders due to their near-monopoly of ecclesiastical positions, which violated the declarations of the Council of Trent, stating that once an place is no longer a missionary area but a regular diocese, friars are to surrender parishes to secular priests. However, upon the suppression of the Jesuits, the Recollect Order took over the former’s parishes and surrendered their parishes to local secular clergy, temporarily assuaging Filipino yearnings. However upon the restoration of the Jesuits, the Recollects were forced to retake their parishes from the secular priests. The opposition of the religious orders against an autonomous diocesan clergy independent of them lead to the martyrdom of Filipino diocesan priests Mariano Gómez, José Burgos, Jacinto Zamora – collectively known as Gomburza –who were wrongly implicated in the Cavite Mutiny. This stemmed from fears that, because the priest Miguel Hidalgo lead the Mexican war of independence against Spain, the same could happen in the Philippines. Furthermore, Governor-General Rafael Izquierdo y Gutiérrez, who was a Freemason, upheld the vow to protect his Masonic brothers upon discovering the Mutiny was led by some of them (Máximo Innocencio, Crisanto de los Reyes, and Enrique Paraíso), and so shifted the blame to the Gomburza since they had inspired ethnic pride among Filipinos with their clerical campaign. Izquierdo asked the Catholic hierarchy in the person of Archbishop of Manila Gregorio Melitón Martínez to have them declared heretics and defrocked, but the latter he refused as he believed in the trio’s innocence. As the colonial government executed the Gomburza, church bells across the colony were rung in mourning. This inspired the Jesuit-educated nationalist José Rizal to form La Liga Filipina, to seek reforms from Spain and recognition of local clergy.
Rizal himself was executed in 1896 and La Liga Filipina dissolved. As cries for reform were ignored, formerly loyal Filipinos were radicalized and the 1896 Philippine revolution was triggered when the Spanish discovered the anti-colonial secret organisation Katipunan (formed with Masonic rites in mind despite Catholic opposition to Freemasonry, yet were dedicated to the martyred Catholic priests as "Gomburza" was a password in the Katipunan). The United States took the Philippines from Spain following the 1898 Spanish–American War; this turned the fighting into the 1899–1902 Philippine–American War, with many Katipuneros devastated their fellow American Masons killed the Katipunan, as American lodges dismissed the Revolutionary Masonic lodges as "irregular" and illegitimate, "The Filipino Lodges felt that the American Lodges had not acted with true Masonic spirit in not inviting to the Convention Lodges working under the Grand Oriente Español. The reason such an invitation was not extended was because most members of Lodges holding Charters from California agreed that it would be considered irregular by many of the Grand Lodges of the United States, which would neither take the time nor show interest enough to investigate the reasons for such action. They would simply have refused to grant recognition to the new Grand Lodge for allowing irregular Lodges to participate in its deliberations." and Philippine Freemasonry placed under control of the Grand Lodge of California. Under American colonial control, the Catholic Church was disestablished as the state church of the Philippines, with the postwar period seeing some churches restored in the Art-Deco style. There was a looming threat of apostasy and schism with the rise of anti-clerical Philippine Freemasonry and the establishment of the Philippine Independent Church due to Filipino anger against Spanish ecclesiastical corruption."Pope Orders Sharp Action; Archbishop of Manila Instructed to Excommunicate Philippine National Church Promoters", New York Times, New York: December 29, 1902. p. 7 In response, Pope Leo XIII in 1902 excommunicated all adherents of the Philippine Independent Church, yet supported Philippine political independence with a policy of reinforcing orthodoxy and reconciliation. This resulted in a majority of Filipinos remaining in full communion with the Holy See, and a good number of those who had left the Church returning.
The result of the First Provincial Council of Manila (1907), restored the Spanish-Empire-Exclusive Cerulean Indult that was in honor of the Immaculate Conception, to the Philippines' Catholic Liturgy, after independence from Spain, and as a reward for the church in the country in staying loyal to Rome, and expanding Roman Catholicism which subsequently also restored the Cerulean Indult to all former Spanish Territories.Bernad, Miguel A. (1957) "Philippine Plenary Council," Philippine Studies: Historical and Ethnographic Viewpoints: Vol. 5: No. 1, Article 9. Cerulean Blue: A Spanish Liturgical Privilege By Matthew Paguinto
On April 10, 1910, Pope Pius X carved out from Manila the Diocese of Lipa, with jurisdiction over the provinces of Batangas, Tayabas, Marinduque, Laguna and Mindoro, and some parts of Masbate. In May 1928, Pope Pius XI established the Diocese of Lingayen, using territory from Manila and Nueva Segovia. In this creation, twenty-six parishes were separated from Manila.
December 8, 1941, marked the beginning of the Japanese occupation of the Philippines. World War II marked a period of irreplaceable loss to the Archdiocese of Manila. The combination of violent theft and arson done by the Japanese and indiscriminate carpet bombing by the Americans during the Battle of Manila (1945) led to the permanent loss of many Gothic, Art-Deco, and Earthquake Baroque churches. Interestingly, then-Father Rufino Jiao Santos (a future Archbishop of Manila) was taken captive by the Japanese, but was saved by combined Filipino and American forces.