WHEN Pope Francis spoke about “rejecting every form of corruption” in Malacañang on Friday, the television camera caught a dusky, shortish man in barong who reacted to the papal call with unsavory astonishment.
Vice President Jejomar Binay, appearing lost in the crowd of guests and officials, glanced at the overhead chandelier before sneering, as though he had smelled something foul.
It was of course hard to determine if the Pope had nipped at a sensitive nerve.
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In fact, in his turn to extend gratitude to the Holy Father, President Aquino instead came up with a denunciation of members of the clergy who, he claimed, played deaf and blind to abuses of past administrations, specifically the one under Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
Pope Francis was observed appearing somber, visibly bothered by the inappropriate dig.
The balding Mr. Aquino said that some members of the clergy seem to think that the way to be true to the faith means finding something to criticize, “even to the extent that one prelate admonished me to do something about my hair, as if it were a mortal sin.”
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If it were, say, a congressional hearing, that out-of-place statement by President Aquino would have been stricken out.
Anyway, the uneasiness would next be washed out in the succeeding Mass at the Manila Cathedral, wherein Pope Francis was lavishly thanked and extolled by Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle, the Pope’s pastoral host.
Swooned Cardinal Tagle: “As many of our people are just beginning to rise from recent natural and man-made calamities, as we are struggling, you Holy Father came to us. You bring fire not to destroy but to purify. You bring an earthquake not to shatter but to awaken. You bring weapons not to kill but to assure and encourage.”
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While Mr. Aquino drew jeers for his earlier comment in Malacañang, Cardinal Tagle was inevitably called “really one of the stars of the entire Catholic Church.”
Meanwhile, while the President failed in an unscheduled test of maturity and composure, the papal mass at Quirino Grandstand this afternoon will also be an ultimate test for everybody, mainly the national security people.
There is nothing sure, so far, if the Pope would follow his earlier wish to mingle on foot with the crowd, which could turn fearfully uncontrollable, at the Rizal Park.
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GOLDEN TIPS FROM POPE FRANCIS: Collated by super trader Sebastian “Baste” Chua, please share these nuggets on happiness and morality as preached by Pope Francis: + Let kindness rule, + Create good habits, + Choose to focus on the good, + Be the best version of you, + Stop judging others, + Start each day with goals, + Choose the more humble purchase, + Befriend those who disagree, + Stop being negative, + Respect others’ beliefs, + Work for peace, + Don’t gossip, + Make commitments such as marriage, + Be happy.
Thank you dear Holy Father for being the bridge of hope, love, compassion, mercy and joy for all of us here.
Mabuhay! Paalam!