POPE FRANCIS has conferred the Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice award on former UST rector Fr. Norberto Castillo, O.P. for his contributions to the Church.
Castillo, 77, received the papal award during a Eucharistic celebration and solemn investiture ceremony led by Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Socrates Villegas on Friday, Nov. 19, at the UST Hospital Chapel.
Castillo was the 91st rector of UST. He served two consecutive terms: from 1982 to 1986 and from 1986 to 1990.
He was born on Nov. 20, 1943 in Tacloban City and was ordained priest on Sept. 8, 1973.
He obtained his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in chemistry, licentiate in sacred theology, and doctorate in philosophy from the University.
He is a former chemistry board topnotcher and managing editor of the Varsitarian.
From 1978 to 1982, he was the director and principal of UST Angelicum College in Quezon City. He became an academic consultant of the school from 1994 to 2002.
He was vice president and dean of the Colegio de San Juan de Letran from 1976 to 1980.
Castillo was socius or assistant to the prior provincial of the Dominican Province of the Philippines from 1977 to 1980.
In UST, he served as dean of UST Faculty of Philosophy from 1994 to 1996 and 2008 to 2012, and became vice rector for religious affairs in 2010.
He serves as spiritual director of the UST Pax Romana Alumni Association, Inc. and continues to write for the Philippiniana Sacra, the scholarly journal of the UST Ecclesiastical Faculties.
He is also a conventual lector of the convent of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary of Manaoag in Pangasinan.
The Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice is the highest distinction awarded by the Pope to members of the clergy and laity for service to the Church. Ma. Alena O. Castillo and Allyssa Mae C. Cruz with reports from Joenner Paulo L. Enriquez, O.P.
