Palace-bishops row mars papal visit

Pope Francis repeated his denunciation of political corruption in the Philippines on the second day of his pastoral visit in Tacloban City on Saturday.

In the text of his homily during the Mass for survivors of the most devastating typhoon that hit the country in 2013, the Pope, in an impassioned message, denounced “so many tragic signs of evil” in the relief and recovery operations mounted in the wake of Supertyphoon “Yolanda.”

Although Francis acknowledged that the victims of the typhoon were beneficiaries of the “generosity of so many people and so many small miracles of goodness” from the international community, he pilloried the slow and chaotic response of the national government and local authorities in coming to the aid of the victims.

“You have also seen, in the profiteering, the looting and the failed responses to this great human drama, so many tragic signs of the evil from which Christ came to save us,” he said.

Yolanda (international name: Haiyan) left more than 6,300 people dead and 1,000 missing. About 1.5 million families were affected while over 910,000 families were dislocated. The Pope was prompted to make an appeal to authorities after a tour of the devastated area under driving rain.

Greater trust

“Let us pray that, this, too, will lead us to greater trust in the power of God’s grace to overcome sin and selfishness,” he said. “Let us pray that it will lead to a rejection of all forms of injustice and corruption, which by stealing from the poor, poison the very roots of society.”

After his tour, the Pontiff appeared to have been shaken by what he saw and was told by the victims, prompting him to call for fair treatment of the victims, especially the poor.

In his prepared address for the clergy and religious at Palo Cathedral, he said, “I ask that the poor of this country be treated fairly—that their dignity be respected, that political and economic policies be just and inclusive, that opportunities for employment and education be developed, and the obstacles to delivery of social services be removed.”

“Our treatment of the poor is the criterion on which each of us will be judged,” he said.

From the heart

The Pope discarded his prepared homily to speak from the heart, which enabled him to identify more closely with the plight of the victims. The Vatican press office later lifted the embargo, telling reporters the speech could be published.

The Tacloban outburst by the Pope was a sequel to the first encounter between Francis and President Aquino during his call in Malacañang on Friday.

It was triggered by the Pope’s references to corruption without particularly referring to the Aquino administration, which has extolled his administration as the paragon of rectitude in good governance. The Pope has made the visit to the disaster area as one of his priorities.

Moral imperative

At the start of his first full day of his visit, the Pope met with President Aquino and other political leaders, urging them to reject corruption and promote “honesty, integrity and commitment to the common good.”

He said: “Today, the Philippines, together with many other countries in Asia, faces the challenge of building on solid foundations of a modern society—a society respectful of authentic human values, protective of our God-given human dignity and rights, ready to confront new and complex political and ethical questions.

“As many voices in your nation have pointed out, it is now, more than ever, necessary that that political leaders be outstanding for honesty, integrity and commitment to the common good. In this way they will help preserve the rich human and natural resources with which God has blessed this country. Thus will they be able to marshal the moral resources needed to face the demands of the present, and to pass on to coming generations a society of authentic justice, solidarity and peace.

“Essential to the attainment of these goals is the moral imperative of ensuring social justice and respect for human dignity.

“The great biblical tradition enjoins on all peoples the duty to hear the voice of the poor. It bids us to break the bonds of injustice and oppression which give rise to glaring, and, indeed scandalous, social inequalities. Reforming the social structures which perpetuate poverty and the exclusion of the poor first requires a conversion of mind and heart. The bishops of the Philippines had asked that this year be set aside as the ‘Year of the Poor.’ I hope that this prophetic summons will challenge everyone, at all levels of society, to reject every form of corruption…”

Inappropriate

In response to the challenge, President Aquino, after meeting with the Pope, retorted that Church officials had been overly critical of him and silent about the abuses of past political leaders.

Mr. Aquino’s reaction drew criticism that it was inappropriate for the President to drag this discourse during the papal visit.

Some of the public reactions said the President had displayed vindictiveness. Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle described it as “a commentary on the previous administration.”

In his speech, the President criticized the bishops who remained silent about the abuses and corruption of the past, but who were now very outspoken against him, to the extent that one prelate had derided him to do something about his thinning hair, “as if it were a mortal sin.”

Archbishop Tagle said, “In many of his speeches since becoming the President, [Mr. Aquino] has referred to the previous and how he has inherited some of the problems that the former administration was not able to, or refused, to address. I heard a bit of that in his speech today. While today, while the silence of some bishops was mentioned, I think it was still a commentary on the previous administration.”

He said his impression was that (the words) were deeply rooted in the President’s personal experiences, including his own sufferings during the martial law years and his appreciation of the role of the Church at the time.