EDITORIAL - Welcome, Pope Francis, with reservations

It should come as no surprise that the welcome for visiting Pope Francis would be intense. The Philippines is more than 80 percent Roman Catholic, most of whom have a reputation for going overboard in everything they do. That we have the longest Christmas season in the world proves the great lengths to which Filipinos would go when sufficiently provoked into doing anything.

But the welcome preparations for the pope during his five-day visit take the cake. Looking at what everyone -- from the government to the church to ordinary folk -- has lain out. One would have thought God Himself was coming. Which is why no less than the Vatican felt a bit discomfited and has politely asked that posters welcoming the pontiff would look better if they had images of Jesus instead.

The most worrisome of all these preparations, however, are those involving security. Not a few have observed that the security impositions are an overkill. Can you imagine being asked not to look out from the second floor window of your own house, the presumption being that you might have some dark intentions against the pope and launch an attack from there?

We can understand that ordinary Filipinos have as much obligation to protect the pope, or any visiting dignitary for that matter, as are the people whose duty it is to officially protect and secure the state and all its citizens. But the way it looks, the security forces have partly abdicated on their responsibilities and passed them on to the citizenry.

That cannot be. The security forces must do their jobs to the best they are able without imposing unjust burdens on the population. Why should a homeowner be deprived of the use of his own home and any part thereof to do something that is not illegal? More importantly, what gives the state forces the right to presume its citizens as a threat without proof other than conjecture?

The impositions being levied on the people, whose only intention is to see the head of their church, give the impression that we are a garrison state, the exact opposite of what Pope Francis has in mind when he makes his frequent contacts with ordinary folk. Prior to the Philippines, the pope visited Sri Lanka. There, the security was hardly evident. The pope had better direct and honest contact with the people.

Here, everything is rigid and scripted. You have to stay in this quadrant and not get out or you cannot get back in again. You can only bring this but you cannot bring that. You can only wear this but you cannot wear that. What is this? Do we have to become robots in order to enjoy the presence of the pope? Believe it or not, but the pope may think he is a visitor even if the state has actually made him a prisoner. How can he be himself in a sea of human hostages to excess?