By Gabriela Baron
Filipino exorcists expressed their support behind arrested priest Fr. Winston Cabading.
Cabading, 57, an exorcist of the Archdiocese of Manila Office of Exorcism, was arrested at the Caleruega Church in Batangas on May 13.
This was after a Quezon City court issued an arrest warrant stemming from a December 2022 complaint filed by former Commission on Elections Chief Harriet Demetriou for allegedly violating Article 133 of the Revised Penal Code.
The case was in connection to Cabading’s statements on the authenticity of the controversial 1948 Lipa Apparitions of Our Lady of Mediatrix. He posted bail and was freed on provisional liberty on May 15.
If convicted, the Dominican priest, also a theology instructor at the University of Santo Tomas, could face up to two years and four months in prison.
In a statement, the Philippine Association of Catholic Exorcists (PACE) aired their support and prayers for Cabading.
“He is one of our own. He has served faithfully in the very difficult ministry of Exorcism for many years in the Archdiocese of Manila and has given his entire life to always preach and teach the truths of Catholic Faith,” PACE Secretary General Fr. Jose Francisco Syquia said in a May 26 statement.
“He has consistently been proven to be a true shepherd guiding his flock to always be united in the truth,” Syquia added.
Siquia added that Cabading also helped “clarify confusion, dispel doubts and answer questions from the faithful that pertain to the 1948 Alleged Apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the Carmelite Monastery in Lipa, Batangas.”
“He did this challenging task always careful to remain one with the mind and stand of Church which has made a definitive verdict that ruled that the alleged apparition in the Carmelite Monastery is not supernatural in character and origin, that is, not from God and hence, not worthy of belief,” he added.
The Vatican and the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines have repeatedly said there is nothing supernatural about the 1948 Lipa apparitions.
-ag
