WelCom March 2024
The Church in the Philippines has demanded the return of ‘stolen’ pulpit panels now on display at the National Museum in Manila. The early 19th-century panels depicting the image of St Augustine of Hippo were originally installed at the Archdiocesan Shrine of Patrocinio de Maria Santissima in Boljoon town, Cebu in the central Philippines. They reportedly went missing in 1988.
Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma OP said the panels ‘are integral to the patrimony of the Church as part of her missionary work and thus considered sacred. Their illegal removal constitutes a sacrilege’.