May 1, 2025 — As I watched the 6-hour Vatican TV coverage of the Pope’s funeral on Saturday, April 26, I recalled the Pope’s visit to the Philippines on Jan. 17, 2015 and his trip to Leyte while a tropical storm “Amang” raged on.
Wearing a yellow plastic raincoat over his white cassock, he assured the rain-drenched crowd that they had been in his prayers since he first read about the supertyphoon “Yolanda” (international name: Haiyan), one of the deadliest storm on record, that laid to waste Tacloban, Leyte on Nov. 8, 2013, and left over 6,000 people dead. The Pontiff told the faithful: “So many of you in Tacloban have lost everything. I don’t know what to say—but the Lord does … He underwent so many of your trials himself.”
Pope Francis’ January 2015 visit to Leyte during that raging “Amang” storm may have set the stage for the release in May 2015, of his encyclical, “Laudato Si,” where he warned of climate change and the West’s wasteful consumption of earth’s resources that has imperiled the planet. For Vatican watchers, it was a new point of view.
As early in his papacy as 2013, Pope Francis risked direct conflict with conservative Vatican officials when he said: “We need to avoid the spiritual sickness of a church that is wrapped up in its own world … If I had to choose between a wounded church that goes out on to the streets, and a sick, withdrawn church, I would definitely choose the first one.” Thus he started to change the path of the Church worldwide by urging local bishops to examine modern family issues and crises in a more merciful light.
The Pope’s empathy and compassion for the poor and downtrodden, the marginalized, and the excluded (homosexuals, divorced and remarried Catholics) are shown in his controversial statements and policies that often disrupted the accepted teachings of the Church. When asked about gay priests, he replied: “If they accept the Lord and have goodwill, who am I to judge them?”
While reviewing Pope Francis’ controversial statements, I was reminded of a Mass I attended at the Edsa Shrine while I was visiting Manila in 2017. The Mass was officiated by Cardinal Tagle who, like Pope Francis, seemed to challenge old church traditions.
Cardinal Luis Antonio “Chito” Tagle (pronounced TAH-gleh)
Often called Cardinal Chito because his last name is difficult to pronounce correctly, Tagle was elevated by Pope Benedict XVI from Archbishop of Manila to the College of Cardinals on October 24, 2012, making him, at 55, the second youngest cardinal then. He was ordained priest when he was only 24. He is fluent in six languages: English, Italian, Latin, Spanish, Korean and of course his native tongue Pilipino. At the 2013 conclave that elected Pope Francis, he was one of the candidates for pope.
I found Tagle a fascinating speaker. Usually a homily is a sermon based on a reading from the Gospel but his homily at the Edsa Shrine Mass was unlike any homily I've ever heard – it didn’t preach nor mention a single holy word. He talked mainly about the poor and marginalized, unmarried mothers, homosexuals, migrant workers, and wayward non-practicing Catholics. However, although his homily was solely about everyday Catholics, it made me think more about God’s love and mercy long after that Mass.
I was reminded of Tagle’s Edsa Shrine homily once again when I read Maria Ressa describing Pope Francis as a "moral giant in a world gone crazy" in her Rappler opinion piece of April 22 on the Pontiff’s death. I realized then that Tagle’s homily at that Edsa Shrine Mass I attended simply showed that he was following Pope Francis’ moral compass in a troubled and complicated world. Tagle’s controversial views reflected the Pope’s. (See Ressa’s piece at https://www.rappler.com/voices/thought-leaders/opinion-pope-francis-moral-giant-world-gone-crazy).
While archbishop of Manila Tagle advocated for the recognition of women's rights by recognizing their valued role as mothers and wives, deserving of genuine love and respect. He took a more moderate stance on the government’s Reproductive Health Bill which funded the distribution of birth control information and devices and contraception pills. Philippine bishops were not in favor of the Bill and threatened politicians with excommunication if they supported the legislation.
On homosexuals, unwed mothers, and divorced and remarried Catholics, Tagle said that the Catholic Church needed to develop a new language for addressing homosexuals, unwed mothers, and divorced and remarried Catholics because what constituted in the past as acceptable way of showing mercy needs to be re-imagined. “The harsh words that were used in the past to refer to gays and divorced and separated people, the unwed mothers were quite severe. Many people who belonged to those groups were not allowed to receive Holy Communion that led to their isolation from the wider society. ...But we are glad to see and hear shifts in that.”
For the Catholic Church, he said there is a pastoral approach which happens in counseling, in the sacrament of reconciliation where individual persons and individual cases are taken uniquely or individually so that a pastoral response could be given adequately to the person on a case-by-case basis. “Every situation for those who are divorced and remarried is quite unique. To have a general rule might be counterproductive in the end. ...We cannot give one formula for all."
In the Philippines there is no law on divorce. “But people do divorce out of love. Fathers and mothers separate out of love for their children and one of them goes to the other side of the world to work due to poverty. These separations are triggered by love although some cases may cause infidelities. In the Philippines and countries affected by such migrations, we must, as a Church, accompany these people and help them to be faithful to their wives and husbands.”
On priestly celibacy, Tagle suggested that the Church should consider a change to this church policy to combat the shortage of priests.
On the church relationship with the media: "As we challenge the media to be fair and truthful in whatever they are reporting, the Church should also be prepared to be scrutinized by media, provided the norms of fairness and truthfulness are applied to all, especially the victims." He decried the tendency of church officials to resent negative media coverage even when accurate, while noting he had witnessed some media coverage in Asia that is tainted by "an anti-Christian sentiment." He discussed how the sexual abuse by priests in the residential school crisis in Canada requires the Catholic Church to reevaluate its relationship with the media.
On Islam and Atheism: In 2018 he said: "Vatican II stressed that we Catholics should respect non-Catholics and their religions. We also respect those who do not believe in God. All people should strive to respect those who differ from their beliefs.”
As the conclave to elect a new pope to replace Pope Francis gets underway, Tagle has been mentioned as a possible candidate for Pope. As the most internationally recognized Filipino Cardinal, Tagle, at 67, is among the frontrunners in speculation about the papacy. Google his Wikipedia bio to see why.
Although Tagle may seem too young to be Pope, the church may need just such a young and energetic pope to meet its many challenges as it evolves with a rapidly evolving world. If the current church hierarchy follows the modern trend that Pope Francis has set during his 12 years on the Papacy chair, Tagle may become the youngest pope in history. As Pope Francis’ protégé, he worked closely with his mentor to move the Catholic church of the past centered on Europe to a church of tomorrow focused on Asia, Latin America and Africa. Dubbed as the "Asian Francis," he is already often seen as a representative of the Catholic Church's progressive wing.
Editor of Canadian Filipino Net
Eleanor R. Laquian has written four best-selling books, and co-authored four others with husband Prod Laquian. She has served in various capacities at the University of British Columbia’s Institute of Asian Research as manager of administration and programs; editor and chair, publications committee; and primary researcher of the Asian Immigration to Canada project. She has a degree in journalism from Maryknoll College in the Philippines, and a master’s degree in public administration from the University of the Philippines. She did postgraduate studies at the School of Public Communications, Boston University in the U.S.
She has been researching and writing about Filipino immigration to Canada since 1969. For her Master's degree in Public Administration at the university of the Philippines, she conducted in 1972 the first, and up to now, the only nationwide survey of Filipinos in Canada. It was done by mailed questionnaires with self addressed stamped envelopes for replies and followed up by personal in depth interviews of respondents who agreed to be interviewed, Interviews were done on a two-week drive from Ottawa to Vancouver in the summer of '72.
Her Master's thesis was published in 1973 in Ottawa by the United Council of Filipino Associations in Canada. It was titled A Study of Filipino Immigrants in Canada, 1962 - 1972. As the primary researcher of UBC Institute of Asian Research immigration Project, she edited in 1998 a book titled The Silent Debate: Asian Immigration and Racism in Canada published by UBC. In 2005 she co-authored with her husband a book to update her MA thesis and titled it Seeking a Better Life Abroad: A Study of Filipinos in Canada 1957 - 2007. It was published in 2008 by Anvil Publishing in Manila.In 2023 she edited Indomitable Canadian Filipinos, a book on the 70-year history of Filipinos in Canada, published by Friesen Press in Manitoba, Canada.
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