How Bantayan Island got a Vatican pass to eat meat during Holy Week

READ: INQUIRER.net Special: Holy Week 2025

CEBU CITY, Philippines — In a country where Catholics traditionally abstain from eating meat during Lent, one island quietly stands apart. On Bantayan Island in northern Cebu, some residents continue to eat meat during Holy Week — a practice that dates back to the 1800s, when the Vatican granted a papal indult, formally exempting the island from Lenten abstinence.

Although the indult has long since expired, the tradition continues, deeply woven into local custom despite lacking official recognition from the Church.

As a result,  it has fueled widespread misconception that Bantayan Island celebrates a fiesta during Holy Week. Local officials and Catholic clergy continue to dispel this myth, emphasizing that the island, like the rest of the predominantly Catholic Philippines, observes the sacred week with reverence and solemnity.

A Vatican-granted exception

The 200-year-old Bantayan Indult or the indulto apostólico para el uso de carnes, allowed locals to consume meat during Lent and Holy Week, exempting them from fasting and abstinence practices observed by Catholics. Pope Leo XII granted the concession on July 27, 1824  due to the island’s geographic isolation and dietary realities: year-round dependence on seafood, and the need for meat as an alternative during the religious observance when fishing paused.

A papal indult is a formal permission issued by the Pope that authorizes an act not generally permitted under Church law. In Bantayan’s case, the request came through Fr. Doroteo Andrada del Rosario III, the island’s then-parish priest. The exemption, originally valid for 10 years, was later extended and remained in effect until 1843 — nearly two decades in total.

The concession became even more vital in the early 1800s when the townspeople began constructing a new church. The entire community took part in the labor, leaving little time for fishing. With meat as their only available food source, the exemption was both practical and pastoral.

But recent research raised the possibility that the indult may have been intended only for Fr. del Rosario as personal recognition for his contributions to Church efforts such as the Holy Crusades. A third-class copy of the indult is preserved at the Parroquia de San Pedro Apostol (formerly the Saints Peter and Paul Parish Church), suggesting that the original may have been privately issued and later duplicated, further adding to the island’s layered folklore.

A parish older than Cebu Diocese

Bantayan’s Catholic roots run deep. The Parroquia de San Pedro Apostol, once called the Convento de la Asunción de Nuestra Señora, was founded in 1580, making it the first parish in the Visayas and Mindanao — established 15 years before the Diocese of Cebu itself.

READ: EXPLAINER: Holy Week in Bantayan is not ‘fiesta’

Within its compound is the Bantayan Parish Museum, which houses religious artifacts, including the copy of the indult. The museum was founded not only to preserve the island’s spiritual heritage but also to set the record straight: Bantayan does not hold a fiesta during Holy Week, despite the longstanding rumor.

Tourism and tradition

Holy Week on Bantayan Island draws both pilgrims and tourists. Residents stage solemn processions on Holy Thursday and Good Friday, featuring life-size images of saints and scenes from the Passion of Christ — icons originally brought by Spanish friars and now passed down through generations of local families.

The island’s white-sand beaches also attract a surge of local and foreign visitors during the long holiday, often driving up accommodation rates and travel fares.

At times, however, this influx has clashed with religious customs.

In 2009, a group of celebrities faced charges after staging a bikini show during Holy Week, drawing criticism from women’s groups and the Catholic Church. Since then, local authorities have banned similar events, including parties on Holy Thursday and Good Friday.

Parish leaders continue to urge both residents and visitors to respect the season’s solemnity.

—With a report from Morexette Marie B. Erram, Cebu Daily News

(2025/04/18-08:42)