I was amazed to discover that there’s a cathedral within Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City. It belongs to the Military Ordinariate of the Philippines, originally established as a Military Vicariate on December 8, 1950, by Pope Pius XII. Rufino Cardinal Santos, the auxiliary Bishop of Manila at the time, became the first military vicar in Philippine history.

The church inside Camp Aguinaldo started as a modest chapel constructed in 1947 and was later reconstructed into its current form in 1964. It was dedicated to St. Ignatius of Loyola, the patron saint of soldiers and the founder of the Society of Jesus.

In April 1986, Pope John Paul II issued a decree elevating military vicariates globally to ordinariates, granting them the same status as territorial dioceses. Consequently, on July 21, 1986, St. Ignatius of Loyola Cathedral was officially designated as the seat of the Military Ordinariate of the Philippines.