Ricardo Cardinal Vidal was born on February 6, 1931 in Mogpog in the small island of Marinduque. At a very young age he entered the Most Holy Rosary Seminary (now Our Lady of Mount Carmel Seminary) in Sariaya, Quezon, where he would become years later its Rector. For his philosophical studies he went to St. Francis de Sales Seminary in Lipa City. He took up theology at San Carlos Seminary in Makati. Bishop Alfredo Ma. Obviar of Lucena, who ordained him for the priesthood on March 17, 1956 assigned him to Mt. Carmel Seminary after two months of pastoral work as an assistant in Mogpog. In Mt. Carmel he was the spiritual director of the Seminarians for nine years (1957-1965), until he became its Rector (1965-1971). He was a sought-after counsellor not only of seminarians and priests but also of lay people being for many years director of the Third Order of Mount Carmel.
As a seminarian the future Cardinal did not enjoy good health. His ordination to the priesthood was almost delayed on account of ill health were it not, according to him, for the prayers of an unknown Carmelite in Gilmore who became his “little sister” or “prayer”. As a priest he used to act as “secretario de visita” to the late Bishop Obviar whenever the latter would make pastoral visits. In this way he was exposed to the problems of priests and people as well as to the ways of the pious bishop.
On September 23, 1971 he was appointed Coadjutor Bishop of Malolos, Bulacan, with right of succession to (now retired) Bishop Manuel del Rosario. The Apostolic Nuncio Carmine Rocco ordained him on November 30, 1971 with Bishops Pedernal and Lim as co-consecrators. In the flood of 1972 which converted a great portion of Central Luzon into a temporary ocean, Bishop Vidal had his first exposure as a bishop to the social problem of the people. He was given all powers of government in the diocese by his Bishop. His stay in Malolos, however, was short lived. Although with right of succession to the bishop, he was appointed to succeed Archbishop Alejandro Olalia in Lipa on August 26, 1973. In Lipa he developed both paternal and fraternal relationships with the clergy. He was involved in the formation of small Christian communities through the Family Life Apostolate. Just before he received his next assignment he started the Lipa Archdiocesan Formation Center (LAFORCE) whose primary purpose is the formation of the laity in the spirit of the Second Vatican Council.
On August 26, 1981 he became Coadjutor-Archbishop of Cebu with the right of succession to Cardinal Rosales. His installation in the Cathedral was attended by delegations coming from his former dioceses: Lucena, Malolos and Lipa. Within one year, Archbishop Vidal was able to visit all the parishes of Cebu either in official or unofficial visit while acting as Parish Priest of the Cathedral.
The 77 years old Cardinal Rosales on the day of his birthday-retirement and of Archbishop Vidal’s installation on September 18, 1982 nostalgically recalled the past with these words: “How rapidly do the sands of time flow! It seems only yesterday that, as a relatively young 44 year old bishop, by the grace of God and of the Holy See I took canonical possession of this great venerable Metropolitan See on February 10th, 1960. Many of you who are listening to me today were not yet born then. My successor, Archbishop Ricardo Vidal, was still a seminarian at that time, starting his studies in philosophy. Archbishop Manuel Salvador, my other coadjutor, was still a seminarian at the Sto. Tomas University, and Bishop Angel Lagdameo was only a nine-year old student at the elementary school.”
Archbishop Vidal has put his feet in the shoes of Cardinal Rosales: he with a great future, the latter with a great past. Time has shown that Archbishop Vidal has inherited from his predecessor not only an Archdiocese with a long and great history of Christianity but also the Cardinalatial office. On April 24, 1985, the news of his elevation to the College of Cardinals was received with great rejoicing by everybody throughout the Archipelago. It was not surprising news but a news awaited by everyone. Cardinal Vidal in two of his speeches in Rome on the occasion of his elevation to the Cardinalate by Pope John Paul II referred to his new position in the Church as “as gift of the Holy Father for the Filipino People which has gained the distinction of being the Cradle of Christianity in the Far East” and “a confirmation of the faith of the Filipino people,” “a manifestation of (the Holy Father’s) love for the people of the Philippines.”
In less than one year after he assumed the pastoral government of the Archdiocese, on the occasion of the beginning of the Golden Jubilee Celebration of the Archdiocese, January 15, 1984, at the Basilica Minore del Santo Nino, Cardinal Vidal announced his intention to convoke the Fourth Diocesan Synod of Cebu, “in order to review the progress attained by the Archdiocese in its 50 years of existence and to provide for the pressing pastoral needs in the coming decades.” After almost two years of preparation, he officially opened the Synod Iast December 11, 1985 the history of which still remains to be written. At this writing, the Synod is about to begin its third session (February 24 – March 1, 1986).
Cardinal Vidal has just recently assumed the position of president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines. The work, although no longer new because he has been with the Administrative Council of the CBCP for several years, will nevertheless be greater, loaded with a lot of expectations. The first Pastoral Letter which he signed as President of the CBCP was the Pastoral Exhortation of the Bishops on the Election.
On February 13 and 14, 1986, one week after the Snap Presidential Election, Cardinal Vidal gathered the Bishops of the Philippines in their CBCP Headquarters in Intramuros to prayerfully reflect on the conduct of the Snap Elections as well as on the sentiments of the Filipino People about it. After the two-day closed-door meeting, the CBCP came out with what may be regarded as an unprecedented Pastoral Statement condemning the “unparalleled” fraudulent conduct during the election. The CBCP Statement declared: “According to moral principle, a government that assumes or retains power through fraudulent means has no moral basis… and cannot command the allegiance of the citizenry.”
While on the one hand the bishops have entrusted to him the task of CBCP President, Cardinal Vidal on the other hand knows to whom he should entrust himself. He is a tertiary of the Order of Our Lady of Mount Carmel.
Deus consorvet cum et vivificat oum!