Filipino priest appointed general secretary of Claretian congregation in Rome

Father Limpo Lo assumed the position on June 5, three days after his appointment was ratified by the superior general of the congregation

Filipino missionary priest Efren Limpo Lo, CMF, has been appointed as the new general secretary of the Claretian Missionaries congregation.

Father Limpo Lo formally assumed the position on June 5, three days after his appointment was ratified by Father Mathew Vattamattam, CMF, the superior general of the congregation, on June 2.

The 43-year-old Filipino priest replaced Father Joseba Kamiruaga Mieza, CMF, who served the post in the past four years.


As general secretary, Father Limpo Lo assumes the bulk of the functions that the Canon Law assigns to the person of the notary, of the actuary, and of the chancellor.

Born in Cagayan de Oro City, Father Limpo Lo made his first profession as a Claretian missionary in Zamboanga City in 2001 and his final vows in 2006 in Spain.

He finishing his theology studies at the Universidad Pontificia Comillas de Madrid in 2007 and was ordained priest on December 7 of the same year at the Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish in Quezon City.

After his ordination, Father Limpo Lo served as postulant master of the congregation in the Philippines from 2008 to 2010.

From 2010 to 2012, he studied Licentiate in Theology Major in Spirituality at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome.

He then served as provincial secretary from 2012 to 2013 before he was assigned as local superior at the Claret Seminary community where he took the role of Prefect of Seminarians and professor at the St. Anthony Mary Claret College in Quezon City.

In 2014, he became rector of the seminary until he was appointed as the provincial secretary in 2016 and in 2019. He also served as director of Claret School of Quezon City from 2016 to 2017.

Father Limpo Lo was vice postulator for the cause of the beatification of Claretian missionary priest Rhoel Gallardo who died in the hands of the bandit Abu Sayyaf group in Basilan.

The Claretians, formally the Congregation of Missionaries, Sons of the Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary, are a religious congregation of the Catholic Church founded in 1849 by Saint Anthony Mary Claret.

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