Pope Francis brings hope

In three days, Pope Francis arrives in Philippine soil. This is the big day. This is the day when all security systems should be functioning to high heavens. Good luck!

I don’t want to sound like a pessimist but with how this country is moving, I am worried about the logistics of the Pope’s visit. All we can do is pray that our police force is efficiently implementing the plan. On the other side of the coin, I’m sure the Pope will accomplish his goal. He will see the beauty of our people inside and out. He will see through the garbage and stench that ‘hidden pearl’ in the hearts of our people and in our land.

What a wonderful gift it is to have a holy person visit our country and bless it. I hope he gives a special blessing to our leaders to cleanse them from their sins and live anew. He is that shining star, like a comet that will pass over this little archipelago once or twice maybe even thrice and shower us with blessings we so much need.

We really need spiritual upliftment. Our country is run by people who do not know how to lead, how to take care and protect its citizens. We are weeping in our hearts, suffering from government abuse and inefficiencies (local and national). We are a lost nation that really needs spritual strength. 

Like the Vatican which was shrouded with black air, this Pope has shown how despair can turn into hope. At the annual Christmas gathering last month, Pope Francis blasted the Vatican’s top bureaucrats, accusing the cardinals, bishops and priests who make up the Curia.

The Curia, the administrative body of the Roman Catholic Church, is dominated by Italians who oversee the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics. Francis, an Argentine, is the first non-European to hold the papacy in more than a millennium. The former Cardinal had not worked in the Curia before his election. He has made reform of the Vatican a major part of his agenda.

Pope Francis listed 15 “ailments” of the Vatican Curia. Here’s the list: (1) Feeling immortal, immune or indispensable. A Curia that doesn’t criticize itself, that doesn’t update itself, that doesn’t seek to improve itself is a sick body; (2) Working too hard. Rest for those who have done their work is necessary, good and should be taken seriously; (3) Becoming spiritually and mentally hardened. It’s dangerous to lose that human sensibility that lets you cry with those who are crying, and celebrate those who are joyful; (4) Planning too much. Preparing things well is necessary, but don’t fall into the temptation of trying to close or direct the freedom of the Holy Spirit, which is bigger and more generous than any human plan; (5) Working without coordination, like an orchestra that produces noise. When the foot tells the hand, ‘I don’t need you’ or the hand tells the head ‘I’m in charge; (6) Having ‘spiritual Alzheimer’s.’ We see it in the people who have forgotten their encounter with the Lord ... in those who depend completely on their here and now, on their passions, whims and manias, in those who build walls around themselves and become enslaved to the idols that they have built with their own hands; (7) Being rivals or boastful. When one’s appearance, the color of one’s vestments or honorific titles become the primary objective of life; (8) Suffering from ‘existential schizophrenia.’ It’s the sickness of those who live a double life, fruit of hypocrisy that is typical of mediocre and progressive spiritual emptiness that academic degrees cannot fill. It’s a sickness that often affects those who, abandoning pastoral service, limit themselves to bureaucratic work, losing contact with reality and concrete people; (9) Committing the ‘terrorism of gossip.’ It’s the sickness of cowardly people who, not having the courage to speak directly, talk behind people’s backs; (10) Glorifying one’s bosses. It’s the sickness of those who court their superiors, hoping for their benevolence. They are victims of careerism and opportunism, they honor people who aren’t God; (11) Being indifferent to others. When, out of jealousy or cunning, one finds joy in seeing another fall rather than helping him up and encouraging him;(12) Having a ‘funereal face.’ In reality, theatrical severity and sterile pessimism are often symptoms of fear and insecurity. The apostle must be polite, serene, enthusiastic and happy and transmit joy wherever he goes; (13) Wanting more. When the apostle tries to fill an existential emptiness in his heart by accumulating material goods, not because he needs them but because he’ll feel more secure; (14) Forming ‘closed circles’ that seek to be stronger than the whole. This sickness always starts with good intentions but as time goes by, it enslaves its members by becoming a cancer that threatens the harmony of the body and causes so much bad – scandals – especially to our younger brothers; (15) Seeking worldly profit and showing off. It’s the sickness of those who insatiably try to multiply their powers and to do so are capable of calumny, defamation and discrediting others, even in newspapers and magazines, naturally to show themselves as being more capable than others.

Don’t all these ailments of the Vatican Curia – greed, indifference, seeking worldly profit, etc. sound too familiar? These are the very same ailments our government leaders are afflicted with. Perhaps it is really the will of God that Pope Francis visits our country during these difficult times. If there is anyone in this world who really walks the talk, it is Pope Francis, thus, he can look at our leaders straight into their eyes and admonish them for turning wealth and power into their gods and greed and selfishness into chief virtues. This greed makes one sick because it makes him think of everything in terms of money. Our leaders need to be cured from this ailment that has destroyed the very core of this nation.

In one of his morning homilies, Pope Francis contrasted the vanity of greed, where we place ourselves at the center of all existence, with the humility of Christ. He said, “Saint Paul tells us that Jesus Christ, who was rich, made Himself poor to enrich us. That is the path of God: humility, to lower oneself in order to serve. Greed, on the other hand, takes us on a contrary path: You, who are a poor human, make yourself God for vanity’s sake. It is idolatry!” 

Pope Francis has made humility his hallmark since day one. We pray and hope that this humility will shine through each and every one of us and that just like the Curia which need reforms, our leaders will come to their senses and accept with all humility the mistakes that they have made along the way and vow to uphold the law to be the public servants that they have sworn to be and implement the much needed reforms.

Pope Francis asks us not to get tired of being merciful and compassionate. Surely, he will bring hope to our fallen land for he is the Pope of hope.

Welcome to the Philippines Pope Francis!