Top officials of the Roman Catholic Church in the Philippines were the ones who derived the most benefits from the recent state visit of Pope Francis. This explains the frenzy which characterized the preparations made by local Church officials, led by Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle, for this long-awaited event.
It also explains why Cardinal Tagle delivered an extended speech praising Pope Francis to the high heavens towards the end of the papal mass celebrated at the Quirino Grandstand at the Luneta in the afternoon of January 18. Observers noted that in his excitement, Tagle uttered the phrase “non-Christian Catholics.” At any rate, not only was Tagle’s speech long-winded, the numerous superlative praises it contained were manifestly uncalled for considering that Pope Francis is a man of few words, and is one who avoids praise and privilege.
The influence of the Church in Philippine politics, albeit disallowed by the Constitution, has gradually diminished since the 1990s. Analysts believe that the success of the recent papal visit and the visibility of the local clergy in this milestone event may bring back to the Church a sizeable chunk of that influence. The charming Pope Francis will surely be a convenient rallying point for future activities of the Church in the Philippines.
The Church reached the apex of its political influence during the February 1986 People Power Revolution, a military mutiny supported by civilians organized by then Manila Archbishop Jaime Cardinal Sin, which led to the ouster of a constitutional government through extraconstitutional means. In the aftermath of the mutiny, Sin was revered as a champion against state oppression.
Under the administration of President Corazon Cojuangco Aquino, a devout Roman Catholic, the unseen hand of Cardinal Sin was present in many concerns of the government.
In the 1992 presidential elections, President Aquino’s anointed one was Fidel Ramos, her trusted Secretary of National Defense who defended her administration from numerous coup attempts initiated by disgruntled soldiers. Cardinal Sin was not comfortable with the idea of Ramos, a Protestant, holding power in Malacañang. Thus put, Sin chose to support the candidacy of a Roman Catholic – House Speaker Ramon Mitra, Jr. The cardinal placed his bet on the wrong horse because Ramos was declared the winner of the presidential race, despite the protestations of his rival Miriam Defensor-Santiago. A Ramos victory signaled the end of the cardinal’s influence in government.
As expected, Cardinal Sin became a fierce critic of the Ramos administration. Soon, many people began to consider the cardinal as a meddler in government. Once branded as Padre Damaso for his intrusion into government concerns, Sin said it was more appropriate to look at him and his close associates as the modernday version of the Gomburza, the Filipino priests Gomez, Burgos and Zamora who were martyred by the Spanish colonial authorities before the end of the nineteenth century.
Cardinal Sin lost more credibility when he announced to the public that while he campaigned and supported Mitra during the presidential elections in 1992, he actually voted for Ramos.
During the second state visit of Pope John Paul II in the Philippines in 1995, the Pope went around selected city streets inside his bullet-proof “popemobile.” Cardinal Sin was inside the vehicle with the Pope, waving at the people, even if it was obvious that all eyes were on the Pope and not on him. Why Sin even wanted to be inside the “popemobile” in the first place is unexplained.
In the middle part of 1995, Cardinal Sin called for a boycott of the film The Priest, which was about a homosexual priest in England. The call only stirred curiosity in the film and prompted many people to watch it. In 1997, the Church urged the people to rally at the Luneta to denounce any move to keep President Ramos in office beyond 1998. The Church had to withdraw its call when the expected popular enthusiasm did not materialize. Clearly, the handwriting was on the wall, and it said that the political influence of the Church had diminished.
The successors of Cardinal Sin kept the Church stagnant. One focused his attention on opposing illegal gambling in the countryside, but lived a life of material comfort. It seemed like while the Church was opposed to jueteng (a form of illegal gambling), its leaders welcomed donations raised from what it branded as an objectionable activity.
Today, the Church continues to meddle in government affairs. Its latest adventure into the political realm was when it publicly denounced the reproductive health law and threatened to get even with the legislators who voted in favor of the law by campaigning against their re-election to Congress. As stated in a previous column, criticizing government policies is one thing. Threatening elected public officials who do not conform to religious dogma with political blackmail and reprisals is something else.
Around a week prior to the arrival of Pope Francis, Cardinal Tagle tried to paint a rosy picture of the Roman Catholic Church in the Philippines as a forgiving and compassionate institution. Tagle did this in a press interview where he announced that the Church had forgiven Carlos Celdran, the tour guide who created a stir years earlier when he displayed a placard bearing the name “Damaso” while inside the Manila Cathedral. The cardinal was less than honest in his announcement because the criminal case which the Church, acting through Monsignor Nestor Cerbo, filed against Celdran remains pending before the Court of Appeals, with Celdran on the defensive. What Tagle said to the press was doublespeak – equivocal language which carries a concealed truth. His statement was simply propaganda designed to make the Roman Catholic Church in the Philippines look good on the occasion of the papal visit.
It’s bad enough that our politicians engage in doublespeak everywhere, every time. It’s worse when the top Catholic official of the country engages in it, too. The Tagle doublespeak is one way of alienating more people from the Church.