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Mark Saludes, Philippines
LICAS.NEWS
January 2, 2020

A survey conducted at the end of 2019 revealed that despite difficulties they have encountered Filipinos continue to remain hopeful about the future.

Results of a survey done by independent pollster Social Weather Stations showed that 96 percent of respondents are “entering 2020 with hopes rather than with fears.”

“Hope gives me the energy to move on and pursue my dreams for my community,” said Lodema dela Cruz Doroteo, a teacher, when asked about the survey results.

Doroteo belongs to the Dumagat tribe in Tanay town, north of Manila. She is the first to finish college from her poor community.

When she finished her education in 2016, she went back to her tribe and established a school for tribal children.

“We started with nothing,” she said, adding that she used charcoal, stones, and bamboo as writing materials.

She used the power of social media to gather support for the community school. People from the city responded and provided help.

Fear, however, recently enveloped Doroteo’s village when an armed clash erupted between government security forces and communist guerrillas.

When the military operations began, teachers and pupils were prevented from going to school. People were also prohibited to enter the forest.

Doroteo set aside fear and clung to her belief that “only education will give my people the courage to speak out for their rights.”

She continues to open the school despite the threats. She recounted an incident when soldiers accused the teachers of teaching the children how to use guns.

Rebuilding hope to battle fear

In the southern Philippines, an activist group said “hope and space” for tribal education are “diminishing” because of continuous attacks on tribal schools and communities.

“Fear is all over the place,” said Rius Valle, spokesman of the group Save Our Schools Network.

Marielle Lucenio, Philippines
LICAS.NEWS
January 2, 2020

Devotees of the Black Nazarene crowded outside the church of Manila’s old Quiapo district on the last day of the year to mark the start of an annual feast that usually attracts millions of people.

An estimated 64,000 crowd joined the thanksgiving procession for the Black Nazarene midnight of Dec. 31.

Philippine authorities said this year’s procession was record-breaking because it was over in only one hour and 40 minutes, compared to previous years when it took more than four hours.

“The longer the time that we spend in the procession, the more it is susceptible to crime, susceptible to threats,” said police Brigadier General Debold Sinas, head of the capital’s police office.

Monsignor Hernando Coronel, rector of Quiapo church, said this year, the image of Jesus carrying a cross was placed on a carroza, or float, instead of on a platform called andas, which was used to be pulled by the faithful during the procession.

“There were no banners, no unruly mob that used to climb the andas,” he noted.

The priest described this year’s procession as “the most solemn and orderly,” adding that even those who followed the event on social media noticed the behavior of the crowd.

This year’s thanksgiving procession also saw changes with devotees following the carroza of the Nazarene. “Everyone had candles and prayed the rosary,” said Monsignor Coronel.

Authorities said the same security arrangement will be implemented during the traslacion procession, or the transfer of the image during actual feast on Jan. 9.

Attending Catholics said their faith continues to be strong despite their failure to touch the image of the Black Nazarene during the thanksgiving procession.

“It is not necessary to touch or to get near the Black Nazarene,” said Elmer, 51, a devotee since he was 15 years old. “I have always believed that he’s just there, anytime I can go to him,” he said.

JR Aquino, 32, said that although some people were disappointed because they failed to touch the image of Jesus, “I don’t mind because I’m here to just give thanks to the Nazarene for everything.

“I still won’t be separated with the Nazarene because he gave me the strength to still be devoted to him, to worship him,” said Romy, a devotee since 1953.

The thanksgiving procession on the last day of the year is held annually ahead of the big religious procession every Jan. 9.

Traslacion, which means transfer, is often referred to as the Feast of the Black Nazarene. It emulates the “solemn transfer” of the image from its original shrine in the old Manila to the Minor Basilica in Quiapo in 1787.

The Black Nazarene is a life-size image of a dark-skinned, kneeling Jesus Christ carrying the cross.

Every year, on Jan. 9, millions of devotees join a procession to re-enact the 1787 transfer. The annual religious event is the largest procession in the country, drawing millions of devotees thronging to touch the icon and lasting 20 hours at the most.

By the Movement Against Tyranny
December 27, 2019

In the spirit of the season, the Movement Against Tyranny appeals to all concerned parties and the Filipino people to earnestly work for the resumption of the peace negotiations between the Government of the Republic of the Philippine (GRP) and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP).

We see the possible resumption of the talks as a silver lining in a year that has seen a worsening state of tyranny and human rights violations committed against persons and communities critical of the government, especially those accused of being fronts or having sympathies with the NDFP.

Instead of publicly vilifying and killing suspected rebels and their alleged sympathizers ala Oplan Tokhang, or pining for a military junta in the guise of a revolutionary government, it would be much more productive for the Duterte regime to just sit down with the NDFP to discuss how to work together to end the roots of the armed conflict, including how to uphold human rights and achieve much needed social, economic and political reforms.

We appeal on both sides to respect the temporary ceasefire until January 7 as a confidence building measure towards the resumption of the talks. Initial snags should not be used to derail the bigger objective of bringing both sides to the negotiating table.

To the hawks, militarists, peace spoilers and those profiting from war, including the billions on intelligence funds and political largesse disguised as rebel reintegration programs, we say enough. It is time to give peace a chance.

Our people will certainly appreciate and support efforts by both sides to arrive at a just and meaningful resolution of the armed conflict. The whole nation awaits with hope for that time when everyone can work together to end tyranny and achieve a just and lasting peace in our land.#

LICAS News reporter, Philippines
December 27, 2019

Pope Francis prayed for victims of Typhoon Phanfone that left at least 28 people dead and thousands of others homeless in the central Philippines on Christmas Day.

“I join in the pain that affected the dear people of the Philippines because of the typhoon Phanfone,” said the pontiff during his weekly Angelus prayer.

The pope then invited those gathered at St. Peter’s Square to pray a Hail Mary for the Filipino people, “whom I love so much.”

“I pray for the numerous victims, for the injured. and for their families,” he said.

In 2015, Pope Francis visited the Philippines to meet with victims of Super Typhoon Haiyan that devastated the central part of the country.

Most of those who died in the latest disaster came from the province of Iloilo where six members of a family were found dead after being swept away by floodwaters.

Typhoon Phanfone made landfall in the central Philippines on Christmas Eve, causing damage to buildings and destroying houses on its path.

Mary Aileen D. Bacalso, Philippines
December 23, 2019

Christmas brings us back to baby Jesus in the manger. In the Catholic tradition, the four candles lit on the preceding four Sundays before Christmas, or Advent, signify the hopeful waiting for the birth of the Messiah.

In today’s commercialized world,” Christmas is associated with glittering lights, shopping, and carols. Christmas eve is time for “noche buena”, when families gather to share a meal and exchange gifts.

For the families of the victims of enforced disappearances, however, Christmas can only be the happiest season of the year if, and only if, their loved ones are returned home.

For years, they have been living in anxiety, struggling for the elusive truth and justice, which is seemingly out of reach. Their hope against hope kindles and rekindles the light that illuminates the dark path to truth and justice.

There can be no better Christmas gift for them than the return of their long-lost loved ones.

In predominantly Catholic Timor-Leste, the families and relatives of the children kidnapped during the Indonesian occupation dearly cherish what was to be an early Christmas gift.

In November, 15 stolen children (now adults) who were forcibly taken by soldiers during the Indonesian occupation came back to Timor-Leste to trace their historical identity.

This is the latest group of people who were taken as children by soldiers during the Indonesian occupation and handed over to Indonesian families for adoption. Some 72 people who suffered this fate have been reunified with their families over the past three years.

Among the estimated 8,000 stolen children in Timor-Leste, 15 children — 12 boys and three girls — were forcibly taken from their families between 1977-1998.

The girls were taken when they were 8, 12, and 13 years old. The youngest child among them was taken when he was six.

Baptized with Christian names, they were renamed by their adoptive parents in Indonesia.

Each of these children had to deal with issues of identity and adopt to living in a foreign land. The treatment by their adoptive parents varied from child to child. All the same, for decades, they were denied their real identity.

Having been forced to live a lie, what is important for them is knowing the truth of their family histories and identities. This reconciliation is integral to matters of transitional justice in a country notorious for its history of grave human rights violations.

In another war-torn Catholic country, El Salvador, the Asociacion Pro Busqueda de Ninas y Ninos Desaparecidos gladly announced the reunification of a disappeared child who had been forcibly taken from her family during the Salvadorean war.

Maria, who was brought to the United States as a child, was reunited with her biological family on Dec. 14 after more than 38 years apart.

Just a couple of weeks before Christmas, the hopeful sisters and brothers of the long-lost Maria wore shirts bearing the message: “Never did we lose the hope of finding each other and we succeeded.”

Promoting Love of People and Care for Planet

December 20, 2019
ZENIT Staff

This morning in the Vatican Apostolic Palace, Pope Francis received in audience the Secretary-General of the United Nations, His Excellency António Guterres, who subsequently met with His Eminence Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin, accompanied by His Excellency Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, Secretary for Relations with States.

Following the meeting the Holy Father and Secretary-General, the two leaders issued a video message stressing their commitment to world peace. Below is the text of the video, provided by the Vatican.

Pope Francis 
It is good that this meeting of ours takes place in the days leading up to Christmas. These are days when our eyes are turned to heaven to entrust to God the people and situations we hold most dear. In this gaze we recognize ourselves as children of one Father, as brothers.

Let us give thanks for all the good that is in the world, for the many who commit themselves freely, for those who spend their lives in service, for those who do not give up and build a more human and just society. We know: we cannot save ourselves by ourselves.

We cannot, we must not look the other way in the face of injustice, inequality, the scandal of hunger in the world, of poverty, of children who die because they lack water, food, the necessary care.

We cannot look the other way in the face of any kind of abuse of children. We must all fight this scourge together.

We cannot close our eyes to the many brothers and sisters of ours who, due to conflict and violence, misery or climate change, leave their countries and often meet a sad fate.

We must not remain indifferent to the trampled and exploited human dignity, to the attacks against human life, both that which has not yet been born and that of every person in need of care.

We cannot, we must not look the other way when believers of various faiths are persecuted in different parts of the world.

The use of religion to incite hatred, violence, oppression, extremism and blind fanaticism, as well as to force people into exile and marginalization, cries out for revenge before God.

But the arms race and nuclear rearmament also cries out for revenge before God. And it is immoral not only the use but also the possession of nuclear weapons, which are so destructive that even the mere danger of an accident represents a grim threat to humanity.

We must not be indifferent to the many wars that continue to be fought and which claim so many innocent victims.

Trust in dialogue between people and between nations, in multilateralism, in the role of international organizations, in diplomacy as a tool for understanding and understanding, is indispensable for building a peaceful world.

Let us recognize ourselves as members of one humanity, and let us take care of our earth which, generation after generation, has been entrusted to our care by God so that we may cultivate it and bequeath it to our children. The commitment to reduce polluting emissions and to an integral ecology is urgent and necessary: let us do something before it is too late!

Let us listen to the voice of many young people who help us to become aware of what is happening in the world today and ask us to be peacemakers and builders, together and not alone, of a more human and just civilization.

May Christmas, in its genuine simplicity, remind us that what really counts in life is love.

Secretary-General António Guterres 
Muchísimas gracias, Santo Padre, por esta tan calida bienvenida. [Thank you very much, Holy Father, for your very warm welcome.]

You are a messenger for hope and humanity – for reducing human suffering and promoting human dignity.

Your clear moral voice shines through – whether you are speaking out on the plight of the most vulnerable, including refugees and migrants … confronting poverty and inequalities… appealing for disarmament… building bridges between communities … and, of course, highlighting the climate emergency through your historic encyclical, ‘Laudato Si’, and so many other vital efforts.

These messages coincide with the core values of the United Nations Charter – namely to reaffirm the dignity and worth of the human person.

To promote love of people and care for our planet.

Pope Francis marks the fourth and last Sunday of Advent inviting the faithful to look to Joseph as a model of unshakable faith and trust in the Lord.

By Linda Bordoni
22 December 2019

Reflecting on the reading of the day from the Gospel of Matthew, Pope Francis highlighted the role of the meek and humble Joseph, whose capacity to listen to and trust in God provides us with a model to be upheld and imitated.

Addressing the pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square for the Sunday Angelus, the Pope reflected on Joseph, “a person apparently in second place, but whose attitude contains the entirety of Christian wisdom.”

Joseph, the Pope recalled, together with John the Baptist and Mary, is one of the characters the liturgy proposes during the season of Advent.

The style of the beatitudes

Of the three, he noted, he is the most modest: “He does not preach, he does not speak, but he tries to do God’s will; and he accomplishes that will in an evangelical style, and in the meek and humble style of the beatitudes.

Joseph’s poverty, the Pope explained, is typical of those who are aware of their dependence for everything on God in whom they put all of their trust.

Today’s evangelical narrative, he continued, presents a situation that is humanly embarrassing and conflictual. Joseph and Mary are engaged; they do not yet live together, but she is expecting a baby through God’s working.

Faced with this surprising news, the Pope said that Joseph is naturally disturbed but, “instead of reacting impulsively or punitively, he seeks a solution that respects the dignity and the integrity of his beloved Mary.”

The Gospel says: “Joseph her husband, since he was a righteous man, yet unwilling to expose her to shame, decided to divorce her quietly”. In fact, the Pope added, Joseph is well aware that had he repudiated his promised bride, she would have been exposed to grave consequences, even death.

Trust in Mary

“He has complete trust in Mary whom he had chosen as his wife,” he said. “He doesn’t understand, but he seeks a solution.”

Pope Francis went on to explain that this unexplainable circumstance however leads Joseph to question their relationship, and so, “with great suffering, he decides to separate himself from Mary without causing scandal.”

But the Angel of the Lord appears to him to tell him that this resolution is not that willed by God. Rather, he tells him the Lord is opening before him a new path of union, love and happiness: “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home. For it is through the Holy Spirit that this child has been conceived in her.”

Trust in God

At this point, the Pope continued, Joseph shows complete trust in God; he obeys the Angel and takes Mary into his home.

“It is precisely this unshakable trust in God that allowed him to accept a humanly difficult, and in a certain sense, incomprehensible situation,” he said.

Through faith, Pope Francis explained, Joseph understands that the baby conceived in Mary’s womb is not his son, but is the Son of God, and he, Joseph, will be His guardian by exercising his earthly paternity.

“The example of this good, meek and wise man teaches us to lift up our gaze and look beyond, to trust in God’s surprising logic” which consists in openness towards new horizons, towards Christ and His Word.

“May the Virgin Mary, and her chaste spouse, Joseph,” Pope Francis concluded, “help us to listen to the coming Jesus,  who asks that we  include Him in our plans and in our choices.”

Post Angelus

After praying the Angelus, Pope Francis had words of greeting for some of the groups of pilgrims present in the Square.

In particular, he acknowledged the presence of some delegations of Italian citizens who live in gravely polluted areas, and expressed his hope that their political and civil administrators take action to improve the quality of the air that they breath and attend to their health care needs.

Finally, noting that in three days’ time it will be Christmas, Pope Francis said his thoughts go to families who gather together during these days of festivities: those who live far away from their parents and return home, those brothers and sisters who make the effort to be together.

“May Christmas be a fraternal time for everyone, one of growth in the faith and of actions of solidarity toward those who are in need,” he said.

Philippine prelate’s appointment makes him one of only nine members of the Roman CuriaCardinal Tagle named head of Propaganda Fide

Joe Torres, Manila, Philippines
December 9, 2019

Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle of Manila has been appointed the new prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, the Vatican announced on Dec. 8.

The 62-year-old Philippine prelate is only the second Asian to lead the congregation, popularly known by its old name of Propaganda Fide, which is responsible for evangelization and the nomination of Catholic bishops in Asia, Africa and Oceania.

Cardinal Tagle’s appointment makes him one of only nine members of the powerful Roman Curia, or the Cabinet of the Holy Father, in the Vatican.

For the past four years, Cardinal Tagle has been chairman of the Episcopal Commission for the Pontificio Collegio Filippino of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines.

The Collegio Filippino — a college for diocesan priests from the Philippines studying at pontifical universities in Rome — and the Friends of the Collegio worldwide thanked Pope Francis for the appointment.

“In this Advent Season, as we await the coming of Baby Jesus, we pray through the intercession of Mama Mary and St. Joseph that God continues to shower our dear Pope Francis and Cardinal Tagle with his heavenly blessings in this appointment and transfer to the Vatican,” the groups said in a statement.

The cardinal, who was born on June 21, 1957, was ordained a priest in 1982 after studying philosophy and theology at Ateneo De Manila University’s San Jose Major Seminary.

He later studied in the United States, where he obtained his doctorate in theology with a thesis on the evolution of the notion of episcopal collegiality since the Second Vatican Council.

In 1997, he joined the International Theological Commission in Rome.

He was named bishop of the Diocese of Imus in the Philippines by St. John Paul II in October 2001. In 2011, he was appointed metropolitan archbishop of Manila.

In November 2012, during the last consistory of the pontificate of Pope Benedict XVI, he received a cardinal’s red hat.

Cardinal Tagle is president of Caritas Internationalis and the Catholic Biblical Federation.

He participated in the 1998, 2005, 2008 and 2012 synods at the Vatican. In 2014, he was one of the three presidents of the Extraordinary Synod of Bishops on the Family.

He is the second Filipino to become prefect of a dicastery following the late Cardinal Jose Tomas Sanchez, who served as prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy from 1991 until 1996.

Cardinal Tagle succeeds Cardinal Fernando Filoni, who has been appointed grand master of the Order of the Holy Sepulcher of Jerusalem.

Cardinal Tagle’s appointment reflects the pope’s deep desire for a missionary church.

He is only the second Asian to head Propaganda Fide, with the other being Indian cardinal and Holy See diplomat Ivan Dias, who served from 2006 to 2011.