The appointment of former Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle as “cardinal-bishop” by Pope Francis should be an occasion for celebration for the Philippine Church and the nation as a whole. It recognizes the contribution of the Philippines to the vibrancy of the Universal Church while further engaging her and even giving her a leadership role in reforming and charting new directions for the Church.
To be sure, the recognition of the Philippines had been made earlier when on Dec. 8, 2019, the feast of the Immaculate Conception, Cardinal Tagle was appointed prefect of the Propaganda Fidei, the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples. Even before that, at the start of his pontificate in 2013, Pope Francis appointed Tagle head of Caritas International, the Catholic relief agency.
Tagle as Propaganda Fidei head is already part of the Pope’s Cabinet, but being made a “cardinal-bishop” means he will be among a highly exclusive group of 11 Latin-rite cardinals from whom the Pope will seek special counsel. And since the Pontifical Council for New Evangelization will be merged with the Propaganda Fidei, forming what the Spanish media have called a “super-dicastery” more powerful than the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Cardinal Tagle will play a critical role in advancing the Church’s agenda of dialogue and cooperation between cultures, religions, and nations.
In pursuing that role, Cardinal Tagle could draw from the best practices of the Philippine Church. Domestically, bishops and church leaders have established channels for dialogue with Muslim imams and helped in conflict resolution. They have, for example, put their moral weight behind the Bangsamoro peace process. Bishops also form part of regional development councils in which they’re able to channel development efforts to the most remote and most neglected segments of the population.
Cardinal Tagle likewise could draw from the missionary experience of the Philippines. Already the center of Christian missions, Catholic and non-Catholic, in Asia, the Philippines has sent its missionaries to churches and mission territories abroad, especially where Christians are a minority.
In many of these territories, Philippine missionaries have set up schools, clinics, and social services. And in an expanded dicastery that will target the renewal and reevangelization of Europe and other parts of the Old World where rapid secularization has resulted in post-Christian societies, Cardinal Tagle could bank on the knowledge and experience of the Philippine Church in meeting the challenges of an ever-modernizing world.
The economic diaspora that has compelled Filipinos to seek jobs overseas has had tremendous social costs for families, but it has also led to a revivification of the faith life in Europe, as homesick Filipinos find their loneliness eased and their sense of purpose renewed by going to Mass and filling up churches emptied of their old believers.
In many dioceses in Europe, Filipinos have become the most active church workers, such that bishops have formed several chaplaincies solely for Filipinos. And because Filipinos have become a dominant overseas manpower in the Middle East, some countries in the region have allowed the Vatican to set up churches there. In many of these churches, the Vatican has appointed the Philippine clergy to take charge.
Cardinal Tagle’s work is already cut out for him, and he will have to summon all the resources at his command to deal with many pressing issues confronting the missions, such as the persecution of Christians and religionists in China, where the communist regime is demolishing “unauthorized” churches and destroying crosses and Marian icons and replacing them with portraits of strongman Xi Jinping.
Cardinal Tagle will especially have to deal with the growing “Christianophobia” in countries where Christians are a minority and where they are persecuted, and in countries where unbridled secularism and liberalism are forcing Christianity out of the public sphere and into the private regime and even into the cultural underground.
That a Filipino has been made the Catholic Church’s chief missionary should underscore the personal qualities and accomplishments of Cardinal Tagle, as well as provide a barometer of how far the Philippine Church has gone as it prepares to celebrate the 500th anniversary of the arrival of Christianity in the country next year.