The Archdiocese of Manila has formally launched a new ministry dedicated to serving street-dwelling persons, appointing Fr. Francisco Nicolas P. Magnaye as its first minister.
The ministry aims to provide pastoral care, social support, and advocacy for people experiencing homelessness in the capital.
According to the archdiocese, the initiative reflects the Church’s mission of compassion and its renewed commitment to the poor and marginalized.
In a decree of establishment issued September 15, Cardinal Jose Advincula outlined the ministry’s objectives, which include creating an inventory of available services for persons in street-dwelling situations, strengthening coordination among existing programs such as feeding, healthcare, education, skills training, and legal assistance, and promoting faith-based community organizing at the parish, vicariate, and city levels.
He also emphasized the importance of a synodal, multi-sectoral approach by working with parishes, schools, religious congregations, civil society, government, and international partners to build empowered and self-sufficient communities fully integrated into society and the Church’s mission.
In an appointment decree issued September 23, Advincula stated the Second Plenary Council of the Philippines (PCP-II) envisioned the Church as one of the poor: a Church of charity, communion, and justice, where the poor are not treated as mere beneficiaries but as partners in mission.
“The Church is called to unite herself in the lived struggles of persons in street-dwelling situations, the silently suffering Lazarus of our time, cast aside into the margins of cities that feast,” he said.
Fr. Magnaye has long been engaged in parish outreach and social action programs
The new ministry will collaborate with Caritas Manila, parishes, and lay volunteers, with activities ranging from feeding programs to pastoral formation. Church leaders expressed hope that the initiative will inspire greater solidarity with street-dwellers across Metro Manila. The archdiocese described the effort as a concrete expression of the Church’s role as “mother and servant, listening, caring, and serving those often overlooked.”
According to the Philippine Statistics Authority, there were 12,615 Filipinos nationwide classified as “homeless” in 2020, referring to those living in streets or public spaces. Of this total, more than 60 percent were reported to be in Metro Manila.
“There is a need to create and establish a multi-sectoral support system that facilitates the building of communities of persons in street-dwelling situations and helps them transition away from street life to empowered, self-sufficient communities fully integrated into the Church and society,” Advincula said.
