ABOUT US
The Boletin Eclesiastico de Filipinas (BEF), the official interdiocesan bulletin, was established in response to a need. In the early twenties, the Apostolic Delegate of His Holiness to the Philippines made an appeal to each local ordinary to work toward the establishment of a national bulletin for the clergy upon realizing the fact that many priests in the country did not immediately get the chance to read the Pope’s encyclical letters, as well as other important documents from Rome. When this publication became a reality, the first editors considered “rendering a detailed account of Papal documents and of the decisions and decrees of the Roman Congregations” as the “principal and most important function of the Review.”
The Boletin had some precedents in the Philippines. In 1876, Archbishop of Manila Msgr. Payo started the publication of Boletin Eclesiastico de Arzobispado de Manila. In 1892, this became the Boletin Official de Arzobispado de Manila. But this publication disappeared when Spanish sovereignty in the Philippines ended.
When Msgr. Guglielmo Piani became Apostolic Delegate of the Holy See in the Philippines, he noted the absence of an official ecclesiastical bulletin and brought this matter to the attention of the bishops. On April 23, 1923, the basic guidelines for the official bulletin were circularized. The bishops asked the University of Santo Tomas to take charge of the publication.
Since its initial issue dated June 1, 1923, the Boletin has served as the mouthpiece of dioceses in the Philippines. The publication was endorsed by Most Rev. M. J. O’Doherty, then Archbishop of Manila. Fr. Francisco Cubeñas, O.P., then Director of UST Seminary was appointed the first editor. He held the office until he died in September, 1929. From the beginning, the principal contributors to the publication were the professors of the Ecclesiastical Faculties of the University. There were also contributions from the other faculties and even from writers not connected with the University.
