Consumer spending slowed to 6.3 percent in the first quarter, down from 10 percent during the same period last year
Agence France Presse May 11, 2023
People form a line outside a bank in the Philippine capital at the height of the pandemic. (File Photo by Jire Carreon)
The Philippines’ economy grew more than expected in the first three months of the year, official data showed Thursday, though the pace was the slowest in two years as soaring inflation and interest rate hikes crimped consumer spending.
The 6.4 percent expansion in the first three months was well down from the revised 7.1 percent enjoyed in the last quarter of 2022, which analysts said could give the country’s central bank some room to step back from its monetary tightening drive.
Expectations were for 6.2 percent growth.
Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Arsenio Balisacan said the lower print was partly due to high inflation and last year’s rate hikes, which reined in consumer spending.
“Higher interest rates last year could have impacted on the consumption and investment already this year,” Balisacan said in a briefing.
Consumer spending slowed to 6.3 percent in the first quarter, down from 10 percent during the same period last year.
The Philippine central bank raised interest rates several times last year to rein in inflation, which hit its highest level in more than a decade.
“Perhaps we are starting to feel that because there are usually some lag effects,” Balisacan said.
Balisacan said the government remained “confident” it will hit its 6-7 percent economic growth target this year despite headwinds. The government expects that to pick up pace through 2028, to hit 6.5-8.0 percent.
“High inflation remains a challenge… but the improvement in (the) business climate can counter this unintended effect,” he said.
The Philippines had previously trimmed its growth target as geopolitical and trade tensions, a possible global economic slowdown and typhoons could dampen economic activity.
Balisacan said the ongoing conflict between Ukraine and Russia as well as tensions in the South China Sea and the Taiwan Strait were among the risks to the growth outlook.
The Senate labor penal on Wednesday held a hearing for various bills regarding a proposed minimum wage increase, including Zubiri’s Senate Bill No. 2022, or the Across-the-board Wage Increase Act, which proposes a P150 wage hike for all private sector workers across the country. GMA Integrated News
By TED CORDERO, GMA Integrated News May 10, 2023 4:57pm
The Senate Committee on Labor, Employment and Human Resources on Wednesday approved “in principle” a bill which seeks to increase the minimum wage by P150 for the entire country, Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri said.
“In principle, the Senate Committee on Labor has already approved our Across-the-Board Wage Increase Act, and a Technical Working Group (TWG) is set to discuss a proposed graduated wage increase scheme for our MSMEs (micro, small, and medium enterprises),” Zubiri said.
“We expect that the Committee Report will come out in about two weeks, and we hope to pass the bill before we adjourn in June,” the Senate president said.
The Senate labor penal, on Wednesday, held a hearing for various bills regarding a proposed minimum wage increase, including Zubiri’s Senate Bill No. 2022, or the Across-the-board Wage Increase Act, which proposes a P150 wage hike for all private sector workers across the country.
The Senate president said that the last legislated minimum wage increase was in 1989, at P89, before the passage of the Republic Act 6727, which created the Regional Wage Boards.
“Ang nakita po natin, with due respect sa ating Regional Wage Boards, napakababa po ng mga increase nila at napakatagal bago nila aksyunan ang problema ng pagtaas ng bilihin, at ang sigaw ng tao para sa disente man lang na sahod. Kapag umaaksyon naman sila, napakababa ng increase, between P5.00 to P16.00 lang,” Zubiri said.
(What we’ve seen, with due respect to our Regional Wage Boards, such low increases and a long time before they take action on increasing costs and the public’s cry for a decent wage. And when they take action, the increase is so small, only between P5.00 and P1600.)
To dismiss concerns that wage hikes would scare away foreign investments, the Senate president cited the minimum wage figures in the Southeast Asian region: Indonesia’s minimum wage is equivalent to P842.00 a day, Malaysia’s is P854.00 a day, and Singapore’s is P2,486.00 a day.
Only Vietnam has a lower minimum wage, equivalent to P511 a day.
“Wala po silang kaltas sa PAG-IBIG, sa PhilHealth, sa SSS. Dito, ang naiiwan sa ating mga kababayan mula P570.00 ay P525.00 na take-home. Pang-Metro Manila lang ‘yan. Hindi pa natin pinag-uusapan sa Bukidnon, sa Mindanao,” Zubiri said.
(They don’t have deductions for PAG-IBIG, PhilHealth, SSS. Here, what is left for Filipinos to take home is from P570.00 is P525.00. And that’s only in Metro Manila. We’re not talking about what they take home in Bukidnon, in Mindanao.]
In northern Mindanao, the minimum wage is at P390.00 for non-agricultural, and P378.00 for agricultural.
In the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, which has the lowest wages in the country, the minimum wage is at P316.00 for non-agricultural and P306.00 for agricultural.
“I would like to remind everybody that we already reached a 7.6% GDP growth rate, one of our highest since 1976,” Zubiri said.
Bishop Alminaza said that in the Philippines “what we call ‘minimum wage’ is not necessarily a just wage, or a living wage, or a family wage”
LiCAS News May 10, 2023
Bishop Gerardo Alminaza of San Carlos lamented the “unjust” situation of Filipino workers even as inflation in the country has eased.
In an interview with Vatican News on May 9, the bishop said that in the Philippines “what we call ‘minimum wage’ is not necessarily a just wage, or a living wage, or a family wage.”
Data from the Philippine National Wages and Productivity Commission show that the average monthly minimum wage in the country is only 8,902 pesos, or a little over 145 euro.
In contrast, the Philippine Statistics Authority reported that as of 2021, the poverty threshold for a family of five, or the minimum monthly income that a family of five needs to meet basic food and non-food requirements, is 12,030 pesos (196.45 euro).
“They did not match the increase in prices,” the bishop said, referring to past wage hikes implemented in the country.
“The majority of the workers have been impoverished. So, if you ask me how is the situation of the workers in the past years, it has really grown worse,” he added.
Aside from insufficient minimum wage, the bishop said some workers do not have benefits and security of tenure.
Bishop Alminaza, who is chairperson of the Church People-Workers Solidarity (CWS), pointed out that in the Philippines, the agricultural sector is “the poorest among the poor.”
In a separate statement, the bishop emphasized that a living wage is “necessary and just” and is fundamental to Catholic Social teaching because it is “closely linked to human dignity.”
“Jesus grew up as a son of a carpenter. He was referred to as the carpenter’s son. So, it was Jesus bringing dignity to work,” he said.
“The Social teaching of the Church is to uphold the dignity of labor, of workers,” the bishop added. – from a Vatican News report
Introducing lessons on topics like same-sex unions is not only anti-Bible but against Philippine law, they argue
LGBT groups hold a rally in Manila to hail the US Supreme Court decision legalizing same-sex marriage in the United States in 2015. (Photo: UCAN files)
By UCA News reporter May 05, 2023 05:24 AM GMT
Philippine Christian groups, including a youth organization, have voiced their opposition to the introduction of topics like same-sex unions and gender discrimination in the draft curriculum for 10th-grade students.
The recent proposal to include lessons on topics like gender discrimination, rights and experiences of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) community by the Department of Education was contrary to the “morals and public customs” of Filipino people, they argued.
“Our youth is not yet ready for such topics, which challenge the Christian-dominated culture of the Philippine nation. It remains contrary to law, good customs, morals, and public policy,” Michael Israel, president of the Catholic Youth for Christ told UCA News on May 4.
Israel said the education department cannot surpass Congress on an issue that has not yet been legalized in the country, where same-sex unions, either in the form of marriage or civil unions, are not yet legally recognized.
“Even the president [Ferdinand Marcos, Jr.] said the country is not yet ready for that piece of legislation. Then, why is the topic being included in the curriculum?” he asked.
In 2019, a group of gay rights advocates questioned the constitutionality of the definition of marriage under Philippine law as a “union between male and female.”
“Same-sex marriage is slowly creeping under our nose into the very curriculum of our basic education”
The group claimed that such a definition restricted same-sex unions, contrary to the constitution that offered no “gender-based” definition of marriage.
“Our constitution did not say that marriage should be a union between male and female. It only says that marriage is the foundation of society … neither does it define spouses as male and female,” gay rights advocate Carlo Libiran told UCA News.
Christian groups, however, said the courts should intervene to determine if the education department indeed exceeded its mandate by including “illegal topics” in mainstream education.
“We are shocked to discover that the promotion of gender ideology, same-sex unions and same-sex marriage is slowly creeping under our nose into the very curriculum of our basic education. What is more worrying is the slant towards promoting and condoning such practices in the minds of our young students,” Christian pastor and lawmaker Brother Eddie Villanueva said in a statement.
Villanueva said the education department’s decision was not only anti-Bible but against Philippine law.
“Not only is this anti-God but also clearly unconstitutional. Section 13, Article II of the constitution mandates that the state shall promote the moral and spiritual well-being of our youth. I do not see that the introduction of these topics into our basic education curriculum is heading in the right direction,” he added.
“It seeks to provide learners with a broader understanding of gender-based issues”
The Department of Education though claimed that the topic of same-sex unions has been in the curriculum since 2013.
“It seeks to provide learners with a broader understanding of gender-based issues, encourage respect within the community, and promote inclusivity,” it said in a statement on May 3.
The education department, however, said it would gather and consider all opinions before finalizing the curriculum.
The Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines said the new curriculum could hurt academic freedom among Catholic schools and universities.
“Academic freedom has always been the right of every academic institution to determine who may teach; what may be taught; how it shall be taught; and who may be admitted to study. This raises doubts in our academic freedom as a Catholic institution,” the Episcopal Commission on Catechesis and Catholic Education executive secretary Father Ernesto De Leon told UCA News.
Various groups have raised alarm over the high volume of fossil fuel and toxic cargo-carrying vessels allowed to ply critically biodiverse seas
Corals, reef, and fishes in Verde Island Passage (Shutterstock photo by Lexter Yap)
LiCAS News May 9, 2023
Communities living along the Verde Island Passage (VIP) in the Philippines, the world’s most critical marine biodiversity center, called for a ban on all tankers carrying toxic cargo to avoid risks of tragedies similar to the ongoing oil spill.
The call was made as the House of Representatives’ Committee on Ecology and Committee on Natural Resources held a hearing in aid of legislation in relation to the oil spill caused by the February 28 sinking of the fuel tanker MT Princess Empress.
“We’re disappointed that even as it took two long months before congress called for another investigation, there appears to be no significant progress in exacting justice for affected communities and biodiversity,” said Gerry Arances, executive director of think-tank Center for Energy, Ecology, and Development (CEED).
He said coordination among various government and responsible actors “still proves to be severely lacking.”
“The complexity of responses necessary in the aftermath of a disaster of this scale shows that we should not allow such incidents to happen in the first place,” said Arances.
He said tankers carrying toxic cargo such as industrial oil and other fossil fuels should be banned from coursing through the VIP.
Various groups have raised alarm over the high volume of fossil fuel and toxic cargo-carrying vessels allowed to ply critically biodiverse seas, especially the marine-significant Verde Island Passage.
Fisherfolk group representatives who attended the hearing lamented the “insufficient and problematic responses” made for communities impacted by the oil spill.
“It is disheartening to see the finger-pointing,” said Dindo Melaya, convenor of oil spill-impacted fisherfolk coalition Koalisyon ng Mangingisdang Apektado ng Oil Spill.
Arances said government agencies and members of Congress can go on with the “blame game … but there will be no justice if the polluters that caused this ecological disaster are allowed to play truant.”
“We sincerely hope that our government will deliver the punitive actions these companies deserve, including the compensation they owe to communities whose livelihood they robbed and whose welfare they harmed,” he said.
The Department of Environment and Natural Resources on Tuesday, May 9, joined five provincial governments to press for a law that will make the VIP a protected area.
Environment Secretary Antonia Loyzaga said that while the VIP is currently classified as a marine protected area, governors from surrounding provinces want it to be protected and covered by legislation.
Say shootings are being labeled deaths by natural causes, claim harassment amid the backdrop of an ICC probe
This photo taken on June 17, 2022 shows forensic pathologist pointing at a scapula with a bullet hole during a post mortem medical examination of an exhumed drug war victim, at the University of the Philippines Manila, in Manila. (Photo: AFP)
UCA News reporter May 09, 2023 06:59 AM GMT
Families of victims of former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s controversial war on drugs claim they are being harassed by state operatives in order to cover up how their loved ones met their deaths.
The claims come amid an International Criminal Court probe into thousands of deaths attributed to Duterte’s anti-drug campaign.
Lourdes de Juan, 41, widow of Constantino de Juan, said several men claiming to be members of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) were putting pressure on her after an independent forensic pathologist examined her husband’s remains.
De Juan said she was visited by the NBI officials at least three times at her house in a slum in Quezon City, in the capital Manila, where her husband was shot and killed by masked men in 2016 while cooking pasta for the birthday of one of their seven children. Two of the children witnessed the killing.
“Their visits were in relation to a subpoena I received last January, asking me to appear at the NBI office,” she told UCA News.
In March this year, the ICC rejected Philippine government appeal to suspend a probe into the war on drugs, started by Duterte when he came to power in 2016. Official figures put the death toll at 6,500 but rights groups like Human Rights Watch claim the tally is much higher, with some estimates putting the toll at more than 30,000.
Sara Duterte, daughter of the former president, serves as vice president in the government of Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and the Marcoses and the Dutertes are known political allies.
De Juan said she has an idea why government operatives have contacted her.
“They [NBI] knew I allowed a forensic pathologist to examine my husband’s remains and the result was that he did not die due to natural causes as certified on the official death certificate but due to a bullet wound to his head,” she said.
The crime scene report stated that her husband died due to three bullet wounds and the certificate was attested by a physician from East Avenue Medical Center in Quezon City.
But when the Philippines Statistics Authority issued the official death certificate, the 36-year-old’s cause of death was due to natural causes.
“This is completely false because my husband died because he was shot,” de Juan said.
Aided by anti-drug war activist and Society of Divine Word priest Father Flavie Villanueva, an independent forensic pathologist exhumed her husband’s remains on Dec. 8, 2021.
“He [De Juan] was reportedly pronounced dead and the case was certified as ‘three bullets due to gunshot’. On the Philippine Statistics Authority death certificate, however, a private physician signed the cause of death as ‘acute myocardial infarction [due to hypertension],” forensic pathologist Dr. Raquel Fortun wrote in her report.
Locals seek security inside Catholic churches and government schools in the Mindanao region
Soldiers stand guard along a road as residents walk to a mosque to pray during the Eid al-Fitr, marking the end of the holy fasting month of Ramadan, in Marawi City, in the southern island of Mindanao on May 2, 2022. (Photo: AFP)
By UCA News reporter Published: May 03, 2023 11:21 AM GMT
Hundreds of villagers rushed to take refuge in Catholic churches and government schools as the Philippine army launched air strikes on suspected hideouts of an Islamic State (IS)-linked terrorist group in the marshlands of Maguindanao province in Mindanao region.
The Archdiocese of Cotabato reported more than 200 families fled the villages of Magaslong and Datu Piang for safety as mortar shells began pounding the Dawlah Islamiya hiding places in the region on May 2.
Members of the terrorist group were spotted consolidating forces in huts in the local community of Magaslong, Datu Piang, Maguindanao del Sur, Brigadier General Oriel Pangcog said at a press conference.
“We wasted no time, we immediately launched the attack considering the suspects were not in a village or community where civilians could be killed,” Pangcog added.
Artillery bombs were fired from 3 a.m. until 12 noon forcing the villagers to flee in a desperate bid to avoid getting caught in the crossfire or becoming human shields.
“Government forces are running after the terrorists because of the bus bombing in Isulan, Sultan Kudarat that hurt six people. They were also former members of the radical Maute group that lay a siege to Marawi in Lanao del Sur province to establish a caliphate,” Pangcog said.
“From very early in the morning, we could hear helicopters and artillery fires. Our children won’t stop crying because they could hear the explosions and gunfire from the other side of the field,” Susan Guinigundo, a mother of five in Maguindanao, told UCA News.
Guinigundo, a lector at St. Therese of the Child Jesus Parish, in Datu Piang, abandoned her house and fled with her children.
“We didn’t know what to expect. What if those Islamic fighters use us as human shields? We need to protect ourselves by leaving our homes,” Guinigundo said.
Another family said they had requested their relatives from a nearby village to pick them up in a dump truck.
“We follow a protocol in the family. My cousin who owns the truck is supposed to help rescue us in an emergency situation like this,” Miguel Bastardo, a 46-year-old farmer told UCA News.
Cotabato archdiocesan Father Clifford Baira told UCA News that the situation on the ground was “very difficult” and 43 Catholic families were sheltered in parishes across the region.
“Most of them are with children so we are collecting milk and other items for their proper nutrition,” Baira added.
The archdiocesan Social Action Center had tried negotiating with the families and relatives of Dawlah Islamiya members in 2019 but the meetings failed due to “religious differences.”
“They think we Catholics are infidels and so need to be converted or brushed aside by violence. If this is the case, there is very little room for peace and communication,” the priest said.
Lieutenant Colonel Dennis Amorato, a spokesperson of the army’s 6th Infantry Division, told the media on May 2 that the operation was a “pre-emptive action before the group could launch another terrorist attack.”
“We made sure that there would be no collateral damage but of course, we could not prevent residents from rushing to evacuation centers because of the impact of the shelling,” he said.
Amorato said government forces were not sure of the number of terrorists killed, but said the snipers were still hiding in the marshlands.
“We cannot go near the area yet because shots are still being fired at us. Perhaps after a day or two we will conduct our own surveillance and go near the area,” Amorato added.
The Philippines is the world’s third-largest contributor to plastic waste, World Bank says
Workers clean up a beach in Zamboanga province of the Philippines in this undated photo: (Photo: Office the City Environment and Natural Resources, Zamboanga City)
By UCA News reporter Published: May 02, 2023 11:42 AM GMT
Residents in a Philippine province collected thousands of kilograms of plastics from the streets and water bodies and exchanged those for rice from the local government as part of a campaign to tackle pollution.
The pilot campaign ran in Zamboanga province in the Mindanao region throughout April and will be replicated in other provinces struggling to contain plastic contamination, said an official from the Office of City Environment and Natural Resources (OCENR) in Zamboanga City.
The agency director Marigold Aranza told UCA News on May 1 that in the past various campaigns to tackle plastic pollution failed but the latest one became successful.
Aranza said residents received one kilogram of rice for every two kilograms of plastics.
A total of 2,084 kilos of rice were traded to residents in Zamboanga over plastic bags and containers during the “Plastic for Rice” campaign, she said.
Aranza said they asked residents to deposit plastics instead of burning and throwing those into the sea.
Zamboanga City mayor John Dalipe said the program came as they found plastic pollution was on the rise in the region.
“We started in four to five barangays [local communities] along the coastlines. We noticed the increase of floating plastic containers at sea so we thought of a program on how to reduce them. A perfect plan would be to incentivize recycling,” Dalipe said in a press conference on May 1.
Dalipe said altogether a total of 4,144 kilos of plastic bags, not counting plastic containers, were freely given by locals.
“They gave more plastic containers which means the project worked. Some of them just wanted to get rid of their trash,” Dalipe added.
The OCENR Zamboanga chapter chairman Wilmer Cruz told UCA News that local villagers were first hesitant about the sustainability of the project because they did not know the organizers.
“They thought we were a scam… the idea sounds really odd – exchanging plastics for rice. It’s like exchanging trash for food. Who really does that?” he said.
“But when the local government through the Office of the City Mayor introduced us formally to the people, we slowly gained local support,” he added.
Families who participated in the program claimed they were encouraged to gather more plastics to have more kilos of rice to be brought home.
“We have become more conscious not only of what we throw but of what is in the garbage bin. We have slowly realized there is something good in the trash, so we went to other nearby villages to look for plastics so we can exchange them, too, for rice,” fisherman Rodel Enverga, 36, told UCA News.
Some residents went to grocery stores and gasoline stations to collect plastics.
“I know a grocery store here that throws a lot of plastics… even gasoline stations. So, I go there every other day to collect their trash and bring them home so I can exchange them for rice. Not only our bellies are full, but we also help the environment,” Nelly Cervantes, 41, a mother of two, told UCA News.
Cervantes claimed business owners who knew about the project later on sorted the plastics because they knew it meant food for the poor living province’s coastlines.
“They [business owners] instructed their keepers to segregate the plastic for us. Before, they all mixed them together. But now, they have learned to segregate because every kilo meant food for us,” Cervantes added.
The World Bank reported in 2021 that the Philippines is the third-largest contributor of plastic waste in the world, contributing to an estimated 0.75 million metric tons of ocean plastic every year.
“Dubbed as the ‘sachet economy,’ the Philippines is notorious for irresponsible trash haulers and open dump sites that cause the plastic to spill into the seas,” the report said.
The 435-year-old Baroque-style Malate Church has been recognized by the National Museum for its historic and cultural role
Church and government officials seen on April 22 near the belfry of the 435-year-old baroque-style Our Lady of Remedies Parish, more popularly known as Malate Church, which was declared an ‘important cultural property’ by the National Museum of the Philippines. (Photo: Jef Delamonte)
By UCA News reporter Published: April 24, 2023 11:00 AM GMT
A 435-year-old Baroque-style church in the Philippines was declared an “important cultural property” by the government on April 22.
Nuestra Señora de los Remedios (Our Lady of the Remedies), more popularly known as “Malate Catholic Church” in the capital Manila, was recognized by the National Museum of the Philippines for its historical and cultural role.
“A panel of experts was convened on Dec. 5, 2018, by the director-general of the National Museum of the Philippines” to decide which of certain cultural properties should “be designated as National Cultural Treasures and Important Cultural Properties,” according to a citation by the National Museum.
An “Important Cultural Property” is known for its outstanding “historical, cultural, artistic and/or scientific value” which is highly significant and important to the country, the citation added.
The Cultural Properties Preservation and Protection Act, the National Museum Act of 1998, and the National Cultural Heritage Act of 2009 mandates the government to declare “Important Cultural Property.”
Leonista Distor, the Columban missionary and parish priest, thanked devotees of the Malate church, saying the greatest miracle has been the growing number of devotees that visit each day.
“Our mission is not only to protect the church’s structure but to protect the faith of the Filipino people. Our work in the parish is not focused on taking care of the cultural aspect of the church but also in honing the spirituality and faith of every Filipino,” Distor said during a speech on April 22 when it was conferred the honor by the National Museum. Among those in attendance was Manila Mayor Honey Lacuna-Pangan.
The Columbans-run church played a key role in the Philippine liberation and in 1898 Augustinian friars secretly allowed revolutionaries to take refuge in its belfry.
“For a time, it became a hideout for the revolutionaries because it was very near the Intramuros, the walled city that was the seat of power of colonial Spain” in the Philippines, historian Rafael Murillo told UCA News.
As the oldest church, built in 1588 in the archipelago, it survived the Chinese invasion in 1662, the British occupation in 1762, and a devastating earthquake in 1863, Murillo added.
The church contains the centuries-old image of Our Lady of Remedies, which was shipped to the Philippines in 1538 from Spain by the Augustinian missionaries.
Mothers with sick children and those experiencing diseases visit the church, seeking its intercession.
“In 1995, I was diagnosed with a lump in my uterus. It was growing fast. So, I prayed to Our Lady and attended the daily Mass. A year later, the doctor informed me that the lump had stopped growing and that it was benign,” Marian devotee Cathy Maristela, 43, told UCA News.
Since then, I photocopied novenas and left hundreds of copies in the church pews, Maristela recalled.
“Many women are seeking the help of Our Lady to cure their illness,” Maristela added.
Another mother claimed her second son had pneumonia when she asked the parish priest in 2009 if she could place her son at the altar table while she and her husband prayed to the image. “We were desperate. We were on our way to the Philippine General Hospital and we passed by the Malate church. I offered my son to Our Lady to make him well. A week later, we were discharged from the hospital,” Manila parishioner Anna Liza Logrono, 47, told UCA News
During Chrism Mass in the Vatican on Holy Thursday, Pope Francis thanks priests for the good they do, which so often goes unrecognized. And he encourages them to invoke the Holy Spirit as ‘the breath of each day,’ which, even in times of crisis, gives them joy and points them in the right direction, toward Christ.
By Deborah Castellano Lubov
“Priestly maturity comes from the Holy Spirit and is achieved when He becomes the protagonist in our lives.”
Pope Francis gave this reminder on Holy Thursday morning during the Chrism Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica, as he urged priests to invoke the Spirit not only as “an occasional act of piety,” but as “the breath of each day.”
In his homily, the Pope thanked priests for their service, which often goes unrecognized, as he reflected on the Holy Spirit.
The Pope recalled Jesus saying, in today’s readings, that the Spirit of the Lord was upon Him, and underscored that without the Spirit “there can be no Christian life; without His anointing, there can be no holiness.”
Lost without Holy Spirit
Since the Spirit is at the centre, the Pope said, it is fitting that today, “on the birthday of the priesthood, we acknowledge His presence at the origin of our own ministry, and as the life and vitality of every priest.”
Chrism Mass in the Vatican
Holy Mother Church, he recalled, teaches us to profess that the Holy Spirit is the “giver of life.”
“Without the Holy Spirit,” the Pope warned, “the Church would not be the living Bride of Christ, but, at most, a religious association…”
The Holy Father reiterated that we are “temples of the Holy Spirit” who “dwells in us.”
“We cannot lock the Spirit out of the house, or park Him in some devotional zone! No, at the center! Each day we need to say: ‘Come, for without Your strength, we are lost.’”
The Pope said that we can all say that the Spirit is upon us, not out of presumption, but as a reality.
“Dear brothers, apart from any merit of our own, and by sheer grace,” Pope Francis said, “we have received an anointing that has made us fathers and shepherds among the holy People of God.”
Pope Francis at Chrism Mass in the Vatican
The Apostles’ turnaround
The Pope recalled how Jesus chose His Apostles, and, at His call, they left their boats, nets, and homes.
“The anointing of the Word changed their lives,” he recalled, saying with great enthusiasm, saying “they followed the Master and began to preach, convinced that they would go on to accomplish even greater things.” However, then came the Passover, the Pope stated, observing that at this moment “everything seemed to come to a halt: they even denied and abandoned their Master,” recalling the denial of Christ by Peter.
However, the Holy Father highlighted, “It was precisely that ‘second anointing’, at Pentecost, that changed the disciples and led them to shepherd no longer themselves but the Lord’s flock. It was that anointing with fire that extinguished a ‘piety’ focused on themselves and their own abilities.
“After receiving the Spirit, Peter’s fear and wavering dissipated; James and John, with a burning desire to give their lives, no longer sought places of honour – our careerism, brothers; the others who had huddled fearfully in the Upper Room, went forth into the world as Apostles.”
The Pope observed that something similar, to the Apostles’ experience, happens in the priestly and apostolic lives of priests.
Two options at times of crisis
“We too experienced an initial anointing, which began with a loving call that captivated our hearts and set us out on the journey; the power of the Holy Spirit descended upon our genuine enthusiasm and consecrated us. Later, in God’s good time, each of us experienced a Passover, representing the moment of truth. A time of crisis…”
For the anointed, the Pope said, this stage is a watershed.
“We can emerge from it badly, drifting towards mediocrity and settling for a dreary routine, in which three dangerous temptations can arise: The temptation of compromise, where we are content just to do what has to be done; the temptation of surrogates, where to find satisfaction we look not to our anointing, but elsewhere; and the temptation of discouragement – that is the most common-, where dissatisfaction leads to inertia.”
The great danger
This here, Pope Francis said, is the great danger: “While outward appearances remain intact, ‘I am a priest,’ we close in upon ourselves and are content just to get by. The fragrance of our anointing no longer wafts through our lives; our hearts no longer expand but shrivel, disillusioned and disenchanted.” And priests risk their identities as pastors of the people, to becoming clerics of the State.
Yet, he reminded them, this crisis also has the potential to be a turning point in our priesthood.
For it can become, Pope Francis said, the “decisive stage of the spiritual life, in which the ultimate choice has to be made between Jesus and the world, between heroic charity and mediocrity, between the Cross and comfort, between holiness and dutiful fidelity to our religious obligations.”
At this moment, Pope Francis announced that at the end of the ceremony, a writing by Fr. René Voillaume, who founded the Little Brothers of Jesus and was inspired by the life and writings of saint Charles de Foucauld, entitled La Seconda Chiamata (“The Second Calling”), would be offered to all priests present, as a tool to remind clerics how they are called, once again, to let the Holy Spirit transform them.
Pope Francis gives homily during Chrism Mass on Holy Thursday in the Vatican
Setting out on a new journey
The Pope called it a moment of grace when, like the disciples at Easter, we are called to be “sufficiently humble to admit that we have been won over by the suffering and crucified Christ, and to set out on a new journey, that of the Spirit, of faith, and of a love that is strong, yet without illusions.”
This happens, he said, with the help of the Holy Spirit, and requires that we admit the reality of our own weakness.
“That is what the Spirit of truth tells us to do; he prompts us to look deep within and to ask: Does my fulfilment depend on my abilities, my position, the compliments I receive, my promotions, the respect of my superiors or coworkers, the comforts with which I surround myself? Or on the anointing that spreads its fragrance everywhere in my life? “
“Dear brothers, priestly maturity comes from the Holy Spirit and is achieved when He becomes the protagonist in our lives.”
“Once that happens, everything turns around,” Pope Francis insisted, “even disappointments and bitter experiences, and sins, since we are no longer trying to find happiness by adjusting details, but by giving ourselves completely to the Lord who anointed us and who wants that anointing to penetrate to the depths of our being!
“Brothers,” he exhorted, “we discover that the spiritual life becomes liberating and joyful, once we are no longer concerned to save appearances and make quick fixes, but leave the initiative to the Spirit and, in openness to his plans, show our willingness to serve wherever and however we are asked. Our priesthood does not grow by quick fixes but by an overflow of grace!”
The Spirit cleanses and heals
If priests allow the Spirit of Truth to act within them, the Pope said, they will preserve His anointing, because “the various untruths with which we are tempted to live, will come to light.” And the Spirit who “cleanses what is unclean,” will tirelessly suggest to to priests “not to defile our anointing.’”
The Holy Spirit alone heals our infidelities, the Pope said, noting that the Spirit “is that interior teacher to whom we must listen, recognizing that He desires to anoint every part of us.”
