Pope Francis as messenger

At the recent 50th anniversary celebration of the Pope Pius XII Center on UN Avenue, Manila, Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle, during his homily, delivered a message from Pope Francis, whom he quoted, “Please focus not on me but on Jesus.” This single short statement sums up in a powerful way the Pope’s message that we should not be carried away by the VIP because he serves a higher VIP—the VIP of VIPs. The Pope is, in a sense, like John the Baptist, not worthy to undo the sandals of Jesus.

Pope Francis knows the danger of veering toward the mundane, to depart from the spiritual realm. He is trying to say that we should balance the external and the internal. The message comes at a time when the media are revving up for his visit. Tens of thousands of giant posters of Pope Francis are everywhere in Metro Manila, in Edsa, SLEx, Taft Avenue and in many other places. At the bottom of each, in smaller subtle letters, are the names and logos of companies that paid for the advertisements. Some people are making a lot of money selling these posters, taking advantage of an event every Filipino is focused on. Is it wrong in itself, or is there room for commercialism in the frenzy of the papal visit? Would Jesus take out a whip in anger and drive out the vendors at the temple, I mean, tear down the posters at Edsa?

It is obvious that Pope Francis is very much concerned about the Philippines being a disaster corridor. He sent a replica of the statue of Our Lady after the Bohol-Cebu earthquake, where seven ancient churches were destroyed, a seeming sign from God not being satisfied with Filipino spirituality. For Pope Francis, Marian devotion is the key effort in averting disasters. As a Jesuit, Pope Francis is a true Marian advocate.

He has invited survivors of Supertyphoon “Yolanda” (international name: Haiyan) to a banquet in his honor. The banquet is to be hosted by Palo Archbishop John Du, who has been working in frenzy to restore the

Cathedral of our Lord’s Transfiguration in Palo for the papal visit. Pope Francis sent out a message to not make the spiritual and social functions in his visit too elaborate. Simplicity will help focus on Jesus and the spiritual, not the temporal.

Papal blessing of rosaries. There is a move to have the Pope bless thousands of rosaries to be distributed free to the people in disaster areas of Leyte, Samar, Cebu, Bohol, Davao, Cagayan de Oro, etc. This will hopefully be distributed through the help of dioceses and parishes in the disaster areas. The message is simple—pray to Mama Mary to intercede so that disasters can be averted by the Lord her Son, who cannot refuse a Mother. The Pope believes the power of prayer will save the Philippines from the onslaught of typhoon after typhoon, earthquake after earthquake. As of this writing, 13,000 rosaries have been procured, 7,000 of these donated by the Family Rosary Crusade. (If you wish to help, send an email to [email protected].) People attending the papal Masses at Luneta, Palo and elsewhere are enjoined to bring their rosaries so that they can be blessed by the Pope.

Climate change encyclical. According to Vatican observer Lingling Claver, Pope Francis is coming up with a “rare encyclical on climate change and human ecology.” His interest in visiting Tacloban and Palo is perhaps related to this, since Yolanda is considered an effect of climate change. Claver adds that the Pope “has argued for a radical, new financial and economic system to avoid human inequality and ecological devastation.” The Pope plans to influence the UN climate change meeting in Paris this year, says Bishop Marcelo Sorondo.

Claver quotes Pope Francis: “An economic system centered on the god of money needs to plunder nature to sustain the frenetic rhythm of consumption. The system continues unchanged, since what dominates are the dynamics of an economy and a finance that are lacking in ethics. It is no longer Man who commands, but money.”

In his campaign against corporate greed, Pope Francis has spoken against “Pagan Christians,” saying, “Because you are lukewarm, I vomit you from my mouth,” referring to the Lord’s words in the Bible. He adds, “They are enemies of the Cross of Christ. They take the name (Christian), but do not follow the demands of a Christian life…. The road to worldliness of these enemies of the Cross of Christ leads you to corruption!”

The mother of all disasters. Pope Francis, speaking on Sept. 12, 2014, at the centenary of World War I in Italy’s largest cemetery, warned that “piecemeal World War III” may already be upon us. He said, “War is madness. Humanity needs to weep, and this is the time to weep. Even today, after the second failure of another world war, perhaps one can speak of a third war, one fought piecemeal, with crimes, massacres, destruction.” The Pope has called for an end to hostilities in Syria, Iraq, Ukraine, Gaza and areas in Africa.

World War III is the “mother of all disasters” because it can kill hundreds of millions, what with population explosion and more sophisticated weapons of war. A new world war would dwarf the casualties of World War I and World War II, tsunamis, Ebola, and hurricanes in the last decade combined.

Bernie V. Lopez ([email protected]) has been writing political commentary in the last 20 years. He is also a radio-TV broadcaster, a documentary producer-director, and a former Ateneo professor.