EDITORIAL — Devotion to Santo Niño not a cult worship

One of the saddest things that has emerged after centuries of devotion to the Santo Niño is that there are now some people who actually think that what attracts millions of people to the Holy Child is cult devotion.

Last week, a press release from a business establishment was sent to this paper in which the writer referred to the devotees coming in droves to Cebu for the fiesta and the Sinulog as the " cult of the Santo Niño. "

Then, some in media again used cult to refer to the devotion. Granting the definition of the word cult allows the devotion to technically qualify as one, extra care and diligence should be exercised to make distinctions in deference to the true feelings of the devotees.

Santo Niño devotees are not cult followers mesmerized in their worship of some heathen idol. Santo Niño devotees are real people living normal lives who simply find time to pay homage to a real God living in their hearts.

Cult worshipers alter their lifestyles in order to devote themselves entirely to their idols. That has never been the case with the Santo Niño, or the practice of the Roman Catholic faith, for that matter.

Just because people turn up in the millions and cry and develop goosebumps upon seeing the Santo Niño image in procession does not mean they are a cult driven by some power over which they have no control.

We who adore the Santo Niño remain in control of our lives. We are free to choose whether or not to attend the Friday Novenas devoted to the Holy Child. We can even choose to err in our thinking that the Sinulog is more important than the fiesta High Mass on fiesta Sunday.

The devotion to the Santo Niño is real, not a mere cult devotion. It is an unbidden manifestation of a real belief in a real God. To even accidentally mistake that as cult worship hurts, so how much more for a deliberate misrepresentation.