Defeated Pampanga Gov. Eduardo Panlilio suffered a double whammy after a bishop said Monday that the priest-turned-politician can no longer go back to his priestly ministry even if he wants to.

Pampanga Archbishop Paciano Aniceto said Panlilio cannot go back anymore to his ministry since he already forwarded the latter’s letter to Pope Benedict XVI for him to be dismissed from the clerical state last year.

“He told the media he’s returning to his ministry if his bishops would permit him but he already wrote a letter addressed to me which I have already sent to the Holy Father,” he said in an article posted on the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) website.

Panlilio announced his plans to return to the ministry after he lost to former Board Member Lilia Pineda in the gubernatorial race in Pampanga in the last elections.

Archbishop Aniceto said it would only be a matter of a year for the Vatican to grant the priest-turned-politician’s petition.

He described Governor Panlilio’s latest statement of his desire to return to the priesthood may have been a “politician’s statement.”

The 73-year-old prelate said it would be hard for “Among Ed” as the priest-turned-politician is fondly called, to be a parish priest again because he has caused division among the faithful and even the clergy.

He added people have been hurt by his statements, his brand of leadership and management at the Pampanga Provincial Capitol.

Asked of the lessons learned from the Panlilio experience, Archbishop Aniceto said there is a need to intensify the value formation of the laity so that responsible citizenship could be promoted along with good governance because politics after all is the expertise and area of competence of the laity.

“If we allow priests to run for elective positions, the formation of the laity will not prosper and we are exposing the clergy to vanity, pride and even to ambition,” he added.

The prelate said there are many consequences for the parishes and diocese because politics as practiced by most Filipinos tend to divide people and society as in the case of the Archdiocese of San Fernando where members of the laity and clergy have been split into groups.

“This will also send wrong signals to priests of the other dioceses because they are given the wrong impression that one can switch to priesthood to politics,” he said, because it will have a negative effect on one’s fundamental option to be priests as politics may be their primary concern and the vocation would take a back seat.

He added even seminarians will be affected because their views on priesthood may change.

Archbishop Aniceto said he received a lot of phone calls from his fellow bishops who have similar concerns.

Still, the prelate said Panlilio remains a priest until he receives the letter from the Vatican.

Panlilio’s term as governor will end on June 30 this year.