Military Ordinariate of the Philippines

Military Ordinariate of the Philippines Ordinariatus Militaris Philippinensis Ordinaryato Militar ng Pilipinas
Arms of the Military Ordinariate
Location
Country	Philippines
Information
Denomination	Roman Catholic
Sui iuris church	Latin Church
Rite	Roman Rite
Established	8 December 1950
Cathedral	St. Ignatius Military Cathedral in Quezon City
Co-cathedral	St. Joseph Pro-Cathedral (Philippine National Police); Shrine of St. Therese of the Child Jesus, Doctor of the Church (diocesan)
Patron saint	Immaculate Conception (titular) St. Ignatius of Loyola St. John of Capistrano
Current leadership
Pope	Francis
Ordinary	Leopoldo S. Tumulak

The Military Ordinariate of the Philippines or MOP is a personal diocese for the Armed Forces of the Philippines, Philippine National Police, and the Philippine Coast Guard. It has jurisdiction over all military, police and coast guard personnel, their dependents, and the civilian employees of all branches of the armed forces. Its titular patron is the Immaculate Conception, with SS. Ignatius of Loyola and John of Capistrano as secondary patrons. The current Ordinary is Most Rev Leopoldo S. Tumulak, D.D..

The Military Ordinariate of the Philippines was initially erected as a Military Vicariate on 8 December 1950 as per decree by Pope Pius XII via the Consistoriat Decree Ad consulendum. It was accepted by the Philippine Government in a diplomatic Agreement which took effect through the exchange of Notes Verbal in 1952 between then-Foreign Secretary Jaime Elizalde and the Papal Nuncio to the Philippines Archbishop Egidio Vagnozzi.Rufino Jiao Santos, then-Auxiliary Bishop of Manila, took possession of the Vicariate and became the first Military Vicar in Philippine history.

On 12 April 1986, Pope John Paul II issued the Apostolic Constitution Spirituale militum curæ, which took effect on 21 July 1986. This Papal document was unique as it began a new structure for all military vicariates all over the world, elevating these to the level of ordinariates, thus giving them the same status as territorial dioceses.

The Ordinariate has its own curia and exercises its pastoral ministry through military, police, and coast guard chaplains assigned to the different branches of the services. The exact number of faithful under this jurisdiction is classified information, but it is approximately 90 percent of servicemen.