The storming of the Bastille and fall of the Catholic Church in France

How unfortunate that some authorities of the Philippine Catholic Church should pick a fight with the Duterte government at this time when he is leading our country to build a better nation. It is uncanny I am writing this column on the anniversary of the storming of the Bastille in French history.

This conflict s not going to be a flash in the pan. It will be a struggle for power between church and state and we know how these conflicts ended. The Bastille was a fortress in Paris, known formally as the Bastille Saint-Antoine.

The revolutionary process in France started with the people’s open rebellion in the summer of 1789 leading to the storming of the Bastille on July 14. It would not be before long for the French masses to topple the absolute monarchy of Louis XVI and completely remove the political influence of the Catholic Church, something very few thought could ever happen. But in our finite world, all things come to an end.

No wonder our revolutionary heroes read into the story of the French revolution and were inspired by it. Although we were not governed by Spanish royalty directly. Spanish monarchs held the Philippines in tow through the power of the Catholic Church. But no matter how powerful the Catholic Church was in France for centuries, it did come to an end. The time has come for Filipinos to finish this remnant of our medieval colonization through the Catholic Church.

Andres Bonifacio, is often referred to as the hero of the Filipino masses. He encouraged his kababayans to read especially history.

Perhaps there is nothing better than reading our history at this time.

Bonifacio, a leader of the Philippine revolution could not afford a college degree but he made up for it by reading.

He read the Holy Bible and Jose Rizal’s novels that inspired the revolution, El Filibusterismo and Noli Me Tangere. Bonifacio read books on law and medicine and not surprisingly the history of the French revolution and  Victor Hugo’s Les Miserables.

These were the books from which he got ideas on revolution. From this he was obsessed with independence and if need be he would lead to take up arms against colonial rulers. The theme of Rizal’s novels on how friars abused their power as vassals of the monarchy in Spain.

All this is pertinent to the church and state conflict in the Philippines today. The actors may be different but the struggle for power between church and state is the same.

Although Archbishop Romulo Valles, the head of the CBCP had a dialogue with President Duterte, it was merely a superficial show for a moratorium. At the same time that Duterte was kissing the Archbishop’s ring other bishops were calling for “fasting and prayer” Philippine Catholic bishops on Monday, July 16 as a way to show their power. No wonder the State through President Duterte called the Catholic god and questioned its existence in profane remarks colliding with Roman Catholicism which is Asia’s largest Catholic Church.

Archbishop Valles’ call for a day of prayer is a euphemism for the church’s show of power. Duterte, as many other more honest Filipino Catholics, was speaking his mind if they had the courage against “false gods.” Like most of us we do question those who call on their god to punish their enemies who compete with their political power.

It is unacceptable to call on “God’s mercy and justice on those who have blasphemed God’s holy name, those who slander and bear false witness and those who commit murder or justify murder as a means for fighting criminality.” If these were the words used by the bishops it is political salvo no different from those seeking Duterte’s ouster.

It is definitely unacceptable to those truly seeking to know God.