The clamor by zealots in the Catholic Church to secure the canonization of former President Corazon Aquino as the third saint in this God-forsaken land is damn serious to be taken as a joke. Maybe it is exhilarating for the blind fanatics but definitely an insult to people in what President Duterte would say that not even a whiff was felt of what she accomplished during her tumultuous reign.
This column has no objection to the desire of this motley group to elevate Cory as saint. It is part of their freedom of belief—that for us to object is to violate their freedom which they will never understand that once crossed could equally violate the boundary that separates the seculars from the ecclesiastics.
While I would not encourage the canonization of Cory Aquino, because I am sure she is not without sin, the implication is far ranging to create a deep cleavage in our society. Her beatification will divide our people: first, between believers and non-believers; second, between those who adhere to the strict separation of the Church and the State and those who adhere to the theocratic system of oneness of the two institutions; and third, between the Catholic Church against other religions. It will be an uphill battle for the Catholic Church against all religions.
The bigots do not realize that to elevate Cory Aquino as saint would ignite the fires of hell right in our own backyard. The backlash could be terrible that it will unevenly divide the Catholic Church against its own brethrens who are opposed to the idea of compelling them to venerate a woman they bitterly denounced after she made a mockery of our democratic electoral process by repacking her treasonous act as “people power.”
Some seculars may not directly oppose the canonization of Cory, but will on the ground that it would constitute a violation of Church and State separation. Her being the former leader venerated at the same time as saint is odd because respect for her as former President is different from their veneration of her as saint. There will be a cascading cry for the removal of her picture, statute, icon or anything that represents her in public buildings, offices and plazas, and insist that they be placed only in places or edifices owned by the Church.
Secular historians would insist on writing her name in our history only in relation to her role as former president. That could heighten tension not only between Catholics and non-Catholics but also between believers and non-believers who would consider her as another icon of demagoguery promoted by the elite and the clerics. Should people start demanding the removal of all things representing her, it could effectively pull down her so-called “iconic” status as a freedom-loving woman. Instead of reverence, contempt will overshadow her image.
Her position in our history will be unique because we have a saint who was not so saintly and a President who was equally not so honest. In contrast, mundane believers would prefer to judge her based on what she has accomplished during her presidency and they cannot be punished for not venerating her as saint much that the right to believe also guarantees their right not to believe.
In turn, the Church will be looked upon as anti-people that could cause further rift among us. Even devout but open–minded Catholics will feel indignant about being forced to swallow one they could hardly digest. Priests and nuns will be made to answer their demagoguery about her as the purveyor of wisdom while this country continues to sink deeper into the morass of poverty and squalor.
It will open the old wound much that the secularists will argue that the Church does not contribute a centavo to the coffers of the government, yet it exerts influence to dictate on its policies. It remains fresh to the minds of many that the Church was an accomplice in the commission of massive electoral fraud that nullified their mandate for the candidate they voted for Vice President.
The law enforcing authorities would be hard pressed analyzing whether the people’s disrespect for Cory stems from their denial of her as saint or for their disagreement to her administration. One must bear in mind that a state that declares itself secular means it does not favor any religion or is against a particular religion in contrast to a Marxist socialist ideology which declares materialism (or atheism) as the core doctrine of their ideology.
Making Cory Aquino a saint could open the gates to eternal conflict never before witnessed in our country. One must not forget that all wars that are rooted on religion are characterized as wars of attrition because they aim for the annihilation of the unbelievers and heretics. There is no room for compromise. Since faith is central to the core of the conflict, it gives little value to sovereignty but in establishing a theocratic state as what the Catholic Church did during the Medieval Age.
Once Cory is canonized, it would be unavoidable for the government not to spend taxpayer’s money to renovating places as shrines in her honor and that could trigger deep resentment. The practice could lead to the promotion of personality cult or in creating an image of her as demigod. This could now become the starting point of a bitter conflict between the Catholic Church and other religious organizations, including the non-believers, except for our wayward Communist Party and their front organizations that opted to align with the reactionary Church that propagated the bogus idea of Liberation Theology to deceive the people with materialist outlook.
Even if Cory cannot be faulted for this possible rupture in our society, people can never forgive the clerics for igniting the eternal flames of religious strife. The people know, as is anyone does, that politics and religion can never mix. They can never synthesize her dual status as former President and at the same time a saint to be venerated. The seculars know that man could only be immortalized by his good deeds which are totally different from the ecclesiastics who preoccupy themselves in saving a man’s soul which could only happen after death.