Today is the “Ides of March.†Just to refresh your memories, March 15th is known in Shakespeare’s epic novel “Julius Caesarâ€, who was warned by a soothsayer to “beware of the Ides of March.†The stories circulating worldwide suggested that the cardinals should avoid electing a pope today lest a Brutus like figure might just assassinate the pope… the way Julius Caesar was assassinated by his peers in the Roman Senate.
Apparently, that’s exactly what happened… when on the 5th ballot on March 13th at 7:06PM, white smoke emitted from the smokestack above the Sistine Chapel and a few moments after… before a huge throng braving the rain and the cold in St. Peter’s Square, Jorge Mario Cardinal Bergoglio, 76-years old and a Jesuit, emerged from the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica to the announcement “Habemus Papam†and became Pope Francis or Pope Francesco… a name he took from St. Francis of Assisi. Indeed, the Holy Spirit truly guided the hand of the 115 cardinals to vote the right man for the job.
Pope Francis is historic, as he is the first non-European pope since the creation of the Catholic Church. He is from South America, specifically from Argentina and will be called the Latin Pope. But above all, he was elected because of his conservatism. He even clashed with the Argentinean President over the gay marriage issue and I’m sure he is against the Reproductive Health law being pushed worldwide by a secular and liberal world.
I’m sure the liberals out there; especially the liberal Jesuits like Fr. Joaquin Bernas or Fr. Joel Tabora or here in Cebu, Fr. Ramon Echica must be terribly disappointed in the election of Pope Francis… because I’m sure that this pope would reform the church and demand obedience and fealty from the liberals in the clergy. If they continue spreading their cancer of Relativism and liberalism from their Internet blogs, surely the Vatican will defrock them. So let’s hear what these people would have to say. Let’s hope and pray that they would shape up otherwise, they might as well ship out!
We are so blessed that we have another conservative Pope. Come on people… the 115 cardinals who voted him into the Papacy became cardinals because of their fealty and obedience to the Magisterium of the Catholic Church. It was only natural for them to choose a conservative to be the successor of Pope Benedict XVI. Finally, Pope Francis is the first Pope in history to ask for prayers for his still living predecessor Pope Benedict XVI. What a great and historic day for the billion Catholics worldwide!
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Remember that conspiracy theory that Malacañang was trying to sell to the public? Now it can be told that all this was another fabricated lie promoted within the halls of Malacañang. Pastor “Boy†Saycon of Civil Society fame and a pro-Aquino supporter apparently appeared before National Bureau of Investigation’s (NBI) Rey Esmeralda to validate the story given by an adviser of Sulu Sultan Jamalul Kiram III that Malacañang was trying to use the foreign press to sell it’s fabricated conspiracy theory.
Boy Saycon volunteered this story to the media covering the NBI beat where he pinpointed Ramon Carandang as one of the President’s spokesmen who told his conspiracy theory to international wire services AFP, AP and Reuters. Apparently the reporters reported this to Boy Saycon, even as Carandang denied this story.
This report reveals a lot about how things are being run inside the Aquino “student governmentâ€â€¦ that nothing much has changed in almost three years in power. The Aquino Presidency got its first taste of an international crises when a deranged police officer hostage a tourist bus filled with Hong Kong tourists, which ended in a disaster and eight Hong Kong tourists were mercilessly killed to the great embarrassment of the Philippines before the eyes of the international community because of the coverage by CNN, BBC and all the satellite TV networks of that ill-fated rescue attempt.
What’s even more ridiculous is that, the Department of Justice (DoJ) has ordered the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to go on a full-blown investigation about Malacañang’s conspiracy theory, which was taken from the highly fertile imagination of Mr. Carandang. I dare say that it is time for Malacañang to admit their faults, which has now resulted into a wild goose chase by the NBI for nonexistent conspirators. It is time that the Filipino people stop those idiots inside Malacañang from fooling them.
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I was at the Bellevue Resort in Panglao to do an advertising shoot with our TV crew from MyTV Channel 30. Yes, I already had three talkshows before the Bellevue Resort officially opened to the public last year with my good friend, Johnny Litton, Bohol Governor Edgar Chatto and the Bellevue Resort management. But now that their facilities are complete, it was time to return and check out their facilities like the new Convention Tent that is opening soon.
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Email: vsbobita@mozcom.com