Special feature: Popes-turned-saints from the eyes of a man they touched

CEBU, Philippines - It’s ironic — The FREEMAN columnist Fr. Roy Cimagala recalls he was not particularly a religious person. Just like any ordinary kid in the neighborhood, he also loved to play.

But his mom, Antonina Amora, made sure they regularly pray the Holy Rosary, a virtue of faith instilled in him, influenced by his grandmother and grade school teachers who were mostly nuns.

Little did Fr. Cimagala know this tiny act of devotion would soon develop his love and veneration for Pope John XXIII. He remembers how he felt good and holy whenever he saw the image of the Pope at that time.

Eventually, the sisters in school urged him to enter the seminary but his father Cristeto Cimagala — a lawyer — did not allow him. “So I forgot about priesthood and pursued what everybody else was  pursuing. At that time, all I wanted was to become rich,” he says.

In his college years, Fr. Cimagala studied Lia-Com major in Economics and Accounting at De La Salle University in Manila. Had he not later on decided to tread priesthood, Fr. Cimagala could have easily become a businessman.

Fr. Cimagala, however, had to shorten his studies due to sickness. He was able to finish Bachelor of Arts in Economics with units in Accounting.

Recalling with enthusiasm, Fr. Cimagala says while he was still studying college, his love and fascination for the Pope grew even more. He would  stay near from where Pope Paul VI stayed when the latter visited Manila.

“I remember standing the whole day right in front of the Nunciature, together with the crowd, just to have a glimpse of him. And when I had those glimpses, it was as if I was floating on air with joy. Prayer when infused with joy becomes effortless,” he says.

He then found himself working until he became a manager of a food company when he was about 34. Fr. Cimagala admits how active he used to be in the business world. He banked on hands-on management and camaraderie with colleagues in an industry that seemed making money was all there is in the world.

He also worked as a management staff assistant in a realty firm engaged into developing condominiums in Manila in the 70s. He was then hired as a personnel manager in an economic research firm and eventually ventured into the food industry.

“Since high school up to college, I had a keen desire to make a lot of money. I was actually good in earning a lot and spending a little,” he says.

But amid an environment that centered on money making, Fr. Cimagala knew deep in his heart that he also had that desire to extend help and give alms to those in need.

“I think I would have been a good businessman but helping the poor…the sight of the poor always left me deeply moved, even to tears. I can’t stomach seeing them that way,” he says.

When Pope John Paul II became head of Church in 1978, it somehow challenged Fr. Cimagala to finally take his Christian formation more seriously.

“I found him irresistibly stimulating and engaging. I was sure his presence, his words, even his mannerisms were all so soaked with a certain charism that I just found myself insatiably devouring his writings and any piece of news about him. I knew I was learning a lot and growing interiorly,” he says.

Fr. Cimagala was not yet even a priest when he was able to see Pope John Paul II at close range. The Pope visited Manila in 1981 and Fr. Cimagala volunteered to be part of the press team.

“It was in Baclaran Church, the pope’s first stop after arriving at Manila airport, when I had the first chance to almost touch him… if only not for the security keeper who stopped me at the last split second,” he shares.

At that instance – the very moment that he met the Opus Dei – was the same moment that he made the decision that would change his life forever.

At 35, Fr. Cimagala finally answered to the call of priesthood. He took up ecclesiastical studies in Rome for two years and then finished it in Spain with a doctorate in sacred theology major in moral theology. His early years in the Christian vocation had been crucial for Fr. Cimagala but the pontificate of Pope John Paul II helped him through.

Fr. Cimagala then started to depict Pope John Paul II as a rock star to the youth with the pope’s “oozing charisma.” He further admired his good oral and written communication skills, immense intelligence, vast pastoral experience and devotion to the Virgin Mother Mary. He could attest how Pope John Paul II transformed the Papacy, reached out to people and brought  the Church up to date.

“His personal life was full of drama that made him very attractive. His piety was palpable from any angle. And he was very human, knowing how to crack jokes,” he continues.

He even remembers when on one Easter Sunday, Pope John Paul II made fa-ces when the clowns entered and he laughed until he was coughing.

On May 26, 1991, Pope John Paul II conferred the holy orders on Fr. Roy Cimagala. He was among the 60 priests who were blessed to be ordained by the future saint of the Catholic Church.

It was the Trinity Sunday of that year when the ordination for Fr. Cimagala and 34 more from Opus Dei took place at the Saint Peters Basilica within the Vatican City. If you ask Fr. Cimagala, it was by an extreme stroke of luck and pure bolt of grace that his name was included among those suggested to be ordained by the Pope as his annual practice.

“I literally froze in disbelief. I could not sleep that night. Spontaneous and strong flow of prayers came a little later. I stammered in thanking God for the great gift and I saw very clearly what He had in store for me. It was not my original choice to be a priest. On hindsight, I realize I was led to it in some mysterious ways,” he says.

On the day of the ordination, Fr. Cimagala recalls seeing Pope John Paul II tired and pale during the procession from the entrance to the altar that took minutes. “He was dragging his feet. He just arrived from a trip to Portugal the day before and had serious health conditions,” he says.

But when the ceremony started, Fr. Cimagala couldn’t help but notice how the Pope regained his color and strength. He says the Pope preached about the virtues of fidelity and generosity in the priesthood during his homily.

Fr. Cimagala remembers how he conditioned himself inside and out for the ordination but when the holy hands of the Pope, other Cardinals and bishops hovered upon him, he prayed hard and admitted becoming very nervous.

“I was in tears. I was saying to myself ‘This is it, Roy. You better be good.’”

What’s even more fulfilling for Fr. Cimagala? Seeing his father and his sister receiving the Holy Communion from the Pope himself. After the ceremony, Pope John Paul II greeted each of the newly-ordained priests. When it was his turn, Fr. Cimagala says the Pope approached him with a quizzical look.

Fr. Cimagala thought that maybe, like any other European he encountered, the Pope also found him too young. Fr. Cimagala was almost 40 years old that time but he looked thin and frail for his age.

The Pope later on smiled and advised Fr. Cimagala to be a faithful minister.

“I don’t remember now what I mumbled. I prepared something to say, but I forgot all of it when the time came. I just felt overwhelmed by his presence. I’ve seen him from a distance many times but this was the first and only time I had direct contact with him,” he recalls.

Before he left Fr. Cimagala, Pope John Paul II assured him he will pray for him.

“In the end, he talked to me as if he knew me all along. I have no doubt he is truly a saint,” Fr. Cimagala exclaims.

He believes the Pope opened his eyes to the fact that everyone  has a vocation from God, only waiting to be discovered. “He made me realize God is calling everyone of us in the little duties we have everyday, and it’s mainly there where we can develop and maintain our love affair with him. Seldom would He ask us to love Him in some extraordinary ways. It’s in the ordinary little things that we ought to find and love him.”

Now that the one who ordained him will be proclaimed saint this Sunday, Fr. Cimagala feels privileged and ecstatic of the canonization of Blessed John Paul II.

For someone who has been touched by John Paul the Great, all there is in Fr. Cimagala’s heart is that fervent commitment to being the faithful priest the Pope wanted him to be 22 years after and beyond. — /JMD (FREEMAN)