Encounters with Pope Francis and the Filipinos

I was in Manila for the Encounter with Families at the Arena in Mall of Asia, but with so many speeches by Pope Francis, I really don’t know where to begin. For sure I expect the millions of Filipinos all over the country who listened to the words of Pope Francis would now seek changes not only in their own lives but in our society as well.

His speech before select families from all over the country was lengthy, but very important in the lives of those not just in the Philippines, but also families all over the world because he warned us against the present day “ideological colonization” that he distinguished from political colonization. Then Pope Francis said, “Be attentive, be attentive…there is an ideological colonization we have to be careful of that tries to destroy the family. It is not born of the dream that we’ve had with God from prayer and from the mission that God gives us. It comes from the outside.”

Of course we know what the Pope means. Although he did not have to mention what threatens families today, he said, “The family is also threatened by growing efforts on the part of some to redefine the very institution of marriage like relativism, by the culture of ephemeral, by lack of openness to life.” This brought a lot of applause by the families inside the Arena.

Frankly speaking, we were in the front lines in the battle against the Reproductive Health Bill, which the Aquino regime passed by bribing Congressmen with more pork barrel. This is what threatens the family today… by introducing a Reproductive Health Law that is not indigenous to the Filipino family but from a foreign country – the United States. 

Incidentally, while there was no Holy Mass offered during the Encounter with Families at the Arena in MOA, there were prayers for the faithful that were offered, but with a huge difference. Just like the prayers for the faithful during the Holy Mass at the University of Sto. Tomas, the prayers for the faithful were in different languages of the Philippines – Cebuano, Bicolano, Waray, Ilokano and Tagalog.

This is a full admission by the Catholic Church organizers of the Pope’s visit that Filipinos speak in different tongues and a blow to Filipino, a created language, which has not evolved as what nationalists say composes all the spoken languages of the Philippines. Political colonization happened to the Philippines. When we were under Spain, we spoke in Spanish. Then the Americans taught us in English. Today we have become a colony of the ultra-nationalists who insists that Filipinos are Tagalog speakers, which we are not! I say it is time to put an end to the Tagalization of the Filipino!

Last Saturday, despite the threat of Typhoon Amang (international name Mekkhala) and against the advice of people to cancel the Pope’s encounter with survivors in Tacloban City (apparently the Pope had knowledge that thousands were already sleeping in the tarmac of Tacloban Airport), Pope Francis flew to Tacloban early morning Saturday with his plane passing over Cebu to avoid the stormy weather and upon landing he held a Holy Mass in stormy weather, but Pope Francis was left speechless.

Unlike the speeches of Pope Paul VI and Pope John Paul II during their visit to the Philippines, during his speeches, Pope Francis always veers away from the written text and speaks in Spanish because  he wants to speak from his heart. If only the Department of Education (DepEd) did not discard Spanish being taught in our schools, the majority of Filipinos today wouldn’t have any need for an interpreter to hear Pope Francis speak in Spanish.

During a radio interview with Luis Cardinal Tagle, he asked the Pope what message would you give to the survivors? Pope Francis told him, “What can we say?” Cardinal Tagle added, “I thought he would repeat the central message of his homily but before these 30 persons, he himself was reduced to silence.” In my book, Pope Francis did not need to talk to the survivors, it was enough that he spent time with them, despite the threat of the typhoon.

Pope Francis’ encounter with the youth was perhaps his most emotional and the most significant for our youth. After listening to the youth, especially the once homeless girl and boy, the Pope gave the youth their best advice repeating this four times, “You lack only one thing… to all whom Jesus love so much…I ask only one thing… do you allow others to give you their riches? How the young people among you are like this?

You know how to give; yet you have to learn how to receive. But you lack only one thing…Become a beggar! This is what you lack… learn how to beg. It is not easy to understand how to learn how to beg. To learn how to receive with humility. To learn to be evangelized by the poor… the infirm, the orphans. Learn how to love and learn to be loved.” Thank you Pope Francis for reinvigorating Filipinos to love their Catholic Faith. We shall be writing more about the significance of the visit of Pope Francis in future columns.

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