RP clergy split on ‘liberal’ pope

The local Roman Catholic Church is split on whether Pope John Paul II’s successor should be a liberal steward of the Petrine office or a conservative one.

According to the former provincial of the Philippine Province of the Society of Jesus, Fr. Romeo Intengan, the new pope "should be open to discussing ideas that apparently seem too liberal and yet are affecting the daily lives of Catholics."

On the other hand, Lipa City Archbishop Ramon Arguelles said: "If the pope is a liberal it is against the law of God."

"Liberalism is a no-no because it is anti-God, so you cannot have a pope that is anti-God," he told Agence France Presse in an earlier interview. "You must have a pope who can interpret very well the laws of God and the laws of nature."

In the Philippines, a former Spanish colony, abortion and divorce are illegal, and the Church frowns on the use of condoms and birth control pills.

Television evangelist Mike Velarde, leader of the Catholic lay movement El Shaddai that claims 10 million members, said his group wanted the next pope to follow a similarly conservative direction as Pope John Paul II.

The question of a liberal pope is "not even worthy of asking, especially if by liberal you mean that the next pope will allow abortion, use of contraceptives, or divorce," Arguelles said. "This is against the law of God. The pope can’t go against the law of God."

Father Anton Pascual, of the Manila archdiocese’s ministry for social justice, said the next pope should remain conservative on issues of human life, marriage, and reproduction to adhere to the laws of God.

"There are issues on which we have to be conservative, like abortion, divorce and contraception, because this involves life," Pascual said.

However, on matters involving social and human rights, poverty and ecology, the next pontiff should be "progressive" since these issues call for such an approach, Pascual said, adding that "the best spirituality is balance. The Church acting on the issues (and) concerns while keeping fidelity to Jesus Christ and to the teaching of the Church — that is important."

Velarde said the 26-year reign of Pope John Paul II, who refused to abandon centuries-old Catholic doctrines amid secular pressure in Europe and elsewhere, "has definitely animated the faith of the Catholic flock in particular as well as touched the hearts of many non-Catholics worldwide."

Openness To Differing Opinions

In a statement sent to reporters, Intengan said a "significant proportion" of theologians and pastors in the Catholic Church "have expressed preference for a pope (who) would tolerate or encourage open, informed and respectful discussions of issues on which many committed and practicing Catholic Christians of goodwill have differing opinions."

These issues "include questions of bioethics and sexual ethics, such as the beginnings of human life, contraception, population management, the relations between persons of the same sex and the legal regulation of these relations," he said.

While Intengan feels the new pope should be open to discussing these issues, a majority of theologians and pastors in the Catholic Church still feel that sexual intercourse should remain within the framework of marriage and that the term marriage should still be reserved for heterosexual unions.

Homosexual couples who insist on "living together" as sexual partners, could instead avail of a civil union that would protect their civil rights, he added.

Many of these pastors and theologians admit, however, that same-sex couples who insist on living together as sexual partners "could avail of a civil union that could protect their civil, political, social, and economic rights," he said.

Intengan said that despite favoring civil same-sex unions, a number of pastors and theologians in the Catholic Church also expressed doubts "on allowing same-sex couples to adopt, much less biologically beget children, by one partner or by surrogates."

He also said a "majority of pastors and theologians in the Catholic Church remain opposed to abortion." These pastors, Intengan said, also wish that the new pope share the same view on the matter.

These pastors and theologians "would want a Pope who would lead the Church in grasping better and addressing more effectively the societal factors that exert pressure on some women to have an abortion, such as unemployment, unavailability of affordable housing, and discrimination in workplace and career against pregnant women or women with children," he said.

They would also "like a pope who would have the same concern and compassion for those who chose to undergo abortion, as Pope John Paul II had and which he expressed in his encyclical Evangelium Vitae (The Gospel of Life)," Intengan said. "They also hope for a pope who would encourage the Church, while not unduly relaxing its moral teaching, to care not only for the ‘ideal’ family of father, mother and children, but also for single-parent families, families whose parents are in irregular unions, parentless families, same-sex unions, and those living alone."

He said these pastors and theologians also hope the new pope will encourage, or at least tolerate, open, informed, and respectful discussion of important issues of Church governance and ministry.

Intengan said these issues of ministry include: Balancing the authority of the Pope as head of the "college" or assembly of all the bishops and the authority of bishops as a whole, according to the teaching of the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council or Vatican II; empowerment of the worldwide Synod of Bishops by giving it more freedom in deliberations and making its decisions binding rather than merely recommendatory; increased autonomy for regional and national episcopal conferences or assemblies of bishops; making celibacy optional for the diocesan clergy and; the admission of women to ordained ministry in the Church.

Meanwhile, Imus bishop and Catholic Bishops Conference doctrine on faith office chair Luis Tagle has challenged Catholics to be firm in their faith and shun the "shopping mall" mentality in shifting between faiths.

In a statement, Tagle said some Catholics tend to be easily discouraged in their faith and transfer to other faiths as a result.

Tagle attributes this attrition partly to "the fact that the Catholic Church has not always been effective in our mission in the Philippines. When some people get discouraged, one easy way to respond to that discouragement is to look for another church or another faith and we should be humble in admitting that we are not always faithful and that drives some people away." — With AFP