CEBU, Philippines - The media liaison officer of the Archdiocese of Cebu said that Ricardo Cardinal Vidal did not approve the notice to the public against a former monk in the church-run publication Bag-ong Lungsoranon.
Msgr. Achilles Dakay, however, admitted that the Cardinal signed the notice which saw print on August 9, but the signature, did not mean he approved the publication.
According to Dakay, the signature of the Cardinal only meant that he approved on the grounds of the dismissal of Venancio Cabillon from the congregation of the Marian Monks in Upper Lindogon, Simala, Sibonga.
“The Cardinal has no intention to publish the notice,” Dakay said over radio station dyLA.
Dakay criticized Cabillon, who is known by his religious name as Frater Paul Mary, for going to the media instead of meeting with them at the Archbishop’s Palace.
“Ari unta siya modiritso sa simbahan dili kay adto sa media,” Dakay said.
Nevertheless, Dakay said the lawyers of the church have already studied the defense of Cardinal Vidal in the libel complaint that Cabillon filed before the Cebu Provincial Prosecutor’s Office.
Provincial Prosecutor Pepita Jane Petralba, on the other hand, said there is no need to create a special panel to handle the preliminary investigation of the complaint even ifthe Cardinal is one of the respondents.
Petralba said libel is just an ordinary crime, which does not need a panel to resolve it.
Cabillon charged Vidal with libel together with his former prior superior Frater Martin Mary, Rev. Fr. Marnel Mejia and Msgr. Cristobal Garcia, because of the publication giving notice to the public that he is no longer connected with the Marian Monks Monastery since January 8.
The publication warned the public that he is no longer allowed to engage any transaction on behalf of the congregation or to solicit funds.
The publication also stated the grounds of his disconnection with the monastery. According to the publication, Cabillon “commits grave faults against the religious vows of the order, as a trafficker of our own members of religious formation, and also violates the vows of chastity and obedience.”
Cabillon described the publication as libelous for being “false” and “malicious.”
Cabillon said he understands that the monastery was trying to prevent the public from giving donations to him in case he would solicit on behalf of the Marian monks, because he was no longer connected with them.
However, he said he “cannot comprehend” why the grounds of his alleged disconnection were added to the publication. Cabillon earlier exposed the alleged anomalous and scandalous practices of some of the monks.
He claimed that some monks are “living in a world of lies and deceptions like creating seeming miracles on Mama Mary shedding tears of blood, crying and other shenanigans.”
He added that like him, some of the monks in the Lindogon Shrine fell prey to the “temptations of lust and worldly sinful weaknesses by engaging in sodomy.”
NO COMMENT
Cardinal Vidal refused to comment on the libel case filed against him.
“After the investigation, I will issue my official statement,” Vidal said. He said that he is entrusting everything to God. — with Jessica Ann Pareja/NLQ (FREEMAN NEWS)