THE METAMORPHOSIS
By
Ernie D. Delfin
POPE FRANCIS BRINGS HOPE,
SIMPLICITY
AND MORAL FORCE TO THE FILIPINO PEOPLE
“The
world tells us to seek success, power and money;
God tell us to seek humility, service and love.”
---- Pope Francis
When this Asian Journal
issue is out, the beloved Vicar of Christ, Pope Francis is already in the Philippines and will cause
not only historic and massive gathering of the faithful but a herd of politicians
salivating to have a selfie with him or piggy backing after his great influence and
popularity. Millions of words have been
written about him, applauding his much-needed type of Servant- Leadership heart
and humility. His visit is a breath of fresh air to the Catholic Church that
has also produced many modern-day-Padre
Damasos (men of cloth who are drawn to the trappings of wealth, opulence
and women). These unwanted Padre Damasos as well as the many
leeches or corrupt government officials,
are the ones, I pray, to be transformed to act like the repentant King David to follow the Pope’s exemplary leadership on humility and
simplicity.
Like millions of
Catholics and peace-loving people, I
love most, if not all, that I read about the simplicity,
humility and work ethic of this first and only Latin American cardinal who was
elected as the Vicar of Christ in March of 2013. His
choice of Papal name as Pope Francis, after Saint Francis of Assisi, founder of
the Franciscan Order, who renounced his
family’s wealth to work for the poor and the lepers, portends what will come and is being manifested almost
every time he goes out from his Papal
throne. A good tango dancer in his
younger days, he is already a very uncommon man of cloth that made him a great
change to the Vatican hierarchy. For
instance, he does not relish living lavishly but quite happy living with
minimalism. As a Cardinal before he was
elected to succeed Pope Benedict who unexpectedly resigned his position, Pope
Francis cooked his own food, lived in
his modest apartment, took public transportation and walked like
many working people, as he enjoyed being with the common people around the
Vatican. I also love the fact that this Pope has been depicted
as one who has a very amiable and transparent
“what you see is what you get” personality, punctuated
with having a great sense of humor and
spontaneity”.
As a Pope for less than two years, has had
done away with the traditional elegant, colorful, expensive
wardrobe and the Papal red shoes with simple and less extravagant symbols of his powerful
papal crown crown as the CEO of the
Catholic Church. His food choices are
also very common and less expensive than
his predecessors’ are. He is known to be going to places where many popes never
dared to go, embracing people of other faiths, and welcoming and accepting gays
in his public pronouncements, justifying his unique actions that who is he to
judge God’s people?
Any reader can read more about him simply by
googling his name, and most likely he will be pleasantly surprised to learn more
uncommon things, work habits and deportment of this well loved Vicar of Christ in the Vatican.
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May I share some of his typical pronouncements that are quite basic
and biblical that are causing positive discussions in the Catholic Church,
simply because they are coming from Pope Francis himself. Like a much heavier stone thrown into the
water of the church, his admonition to his priests and laity is now causing more ripple effects throughout the world. When Pope
Francis said that his concern for the poor and critique of the global economic
system is not some novel, communist-inspired ideology but rather the very
essence of the Christian faith grounded to the principle of the common
good. He often reminded his audiences
about the Gospel of Matthew, the very
core and essential mission of the Church: "I
was hungry, I was thirsty, I was in prison, I was sick, I was naked and you
helped me, clothed me, visited me, took care of me."
Other examples of his homilies that
priests, bishops and cardinals must learn to do and follow are:
"Caring for our neighbor, for
those who are poor, who suffer in body and soul, for those who are in need is
not pauperism. No. It is the Gospel."
"The Gospel does not condemn
the wealthy, but the idolatry of wealth, the idolatry that makes people
indifferent to the call of the poor.”
"As we can see, this concern for the poor
is in the Gospel, it is within the tradition of the church, it is not an
invention of communism and it must not be turned into some ideology, as has
sometimes happened before, in the course of history." (an apparent
reference to the Latin American-inspired liberation theology)
Both a great follower of
St. Ignatius of Loyola (Jesuits) and St.
Francis of Assisi (Franciscans) , our Pope Francis started his papacy only in March
2013, and in less than two years he has already upset many in
the Catholic Church with his relatively progressive views and
attempts to change the way the Vatican hierarchy works.
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As a practicing Catholic and a Filipino living in Diaspora, looking at my
homeland from a distance (California)
here are some random wish/prayer lists that I hope will happen with Pope
Francis’ visit to the Philippines this week. Some of these wishes may seem
presumptuous (as they might be already in place or being done already) but
they are being suggested nevertheless with the sincere hope that it will
make our homeland a better place for as many people as possible.
1.
That he
will upset the status quo of the very rich becoming richer but the poor
becoming poorer. Better still, I hope he can embarrass all those (deserving to be embarrassed) hypocrite
leaders who tried very hard to hide the “poverty” that is prevalent in the
country and spending millions doing it.
2.
That he will
admonish his priests, bishops and
cardinals to work harder for the poor and the powerless and do not play
politics as dozens of church leaders have allegedly crossed the ethical line of
being closed friends of some corrupt politicians to gain economic gains or material handouts from
them.
3.
That he
assigns more priests in remote, poor municipalities to educate as well as influence
the poor not to sell their votes for a few hundred pesos for instant
gratification but instead to teach them to demand from their leaders more
lasting solutions to their poverty, as part and parcel of their basic human
rights and dignity as citizens.
4.
That he encourages Catholic schools to include
Social Justice more in their curriculum and provide practical ways to see it
work and for churches to have working models how rich and poor people can
collaborate and work for the common
good.
5.
That the working
poor, like to millions of OFWs, called the modern day heroes of the
Philippines, (aka milking cows of the government) must be encouraged and taught to organize to work
for the upliftment of their plight and common good.
6.
To
insinuate and challenge the political
leaders to give more teeth to fight human trafficking of young children and
women that is a common knowledge in the Philippines.
7.
To require and train all priests and deacons
to be able to deliver relevant and meaningful homilies that can inspire the
faithful. Many priests put people to sleep with their boring homilies. Many priests are
very ineffective to emotionally and intellectually challenge the laity to
respond and act. In the seminary, before they are ordained as priests or deacons,
they must learn how to communicate more effectively. Participation in Toastmasters International can
dramatically help them or they can also learn much from some evangelical Christian
church pastors (even on TV!) who can tell the audience to jump into the
lake and some will do it!
In conclusion, I hope and pray that this humble successor of
Jesus Christ on earth, Pope Francis will see the real beauty of the Filipino
people. I pray that he encourages and
prods them to reach their God-given
potential to become the best dignified human being as they can be, and not just
blind followers of corrupt leaders who perennially desire to maintain
the status quo for their own selfish interests. The Pope must challenge them to
garner enough courage to become more assertive human beings to work for their
common good. He must explain that the
beatitude “Blessed are the poor in
spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:3) does not mean that
God wants them to be poor. God never meant
nor wanted the poor to become slaves since the beginning of the world, and now
under the 21st century Pharaohs who exploit them for their own selfish benefits.
A tailor-made and succintly expressed homily for
the Filipino audience can be a timely
catalyst for change that will affect the lives of millions of Filipinos who
have been exploited by those who are in power for so long. It’s high time to
share the blessings from God with everyone, especially those who have almost
nothing. That is the primary mission
of the Church from the very
beginning. Pope Francis is just
reminding the world and the Filipino people about to work more diligently about
it.
Viva Santo Papa! May you live a long healthy life!
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