Ad Limina Visit

VISITA Ad Limina Apostolorum. This is the visit of the Catholic Bishops to the See of St. Peter in Rome. It is supposed to be done every five years but the last ad limina visit of the Philippine bishops was in 2010 at the pontificate of Benedict XVI. This scheduled visit to Rome in meant to strengthened the bond of unity of the bishops with the Holy Father. During this visit the bishops have a dialogue with the Pope. They also get to visit the different departments of service (called dicasteries) of the Vatican Curia. There they are consulted about what is happening in their dioceses and their countries; they can put their questions concerning their situations, and they get to know the initiatives being done in Rome to serve the worldwide Catholic community. The dicasteries are organized according to specific concerns, like the dicastery for integral human development which deals with social justice, peace, ecology, migrations, charitable works, health, etc. There is the dicastery which deals with the concerns of the bishops, like the appointment and transfer of bishops. We have the dicastery of social communications, the dicastery of the clergy and seminary formation, the dicastery of the laity, the youth and life, the dicastery for religious and consecrated life, the dicastery for ecumenism and interreligious dialogue, the dicastery for Catholic education, and many others. The visits to the dicasteries are very enlightening. It gives the bishops a wide view of the issues, concerns and initiatives being done by the Church all over the world. The ad limina visit is also a kind of pilgrimage of the bishops to Rome. There are moments of visits and prayer to the four major basilicas where they are able to celebrate mass and pray together for their local churches.

The Philippine bishops are scheduled this year for their ad limina visit. Since there are around 100 active bishops in the country, we are divided into three groups. The first group, mostly the Luzon bishops, just finished theirs, which took place from May 20 to 25. The next batch will be the bishops from the Visayas and the Bicol region, and the last batch from Mindanao and the Southern Tagalog region.

We started our ad limina visit last Monday with an early morning mass at the tomb of St. Peter in St. Peter’s Basilica. It is so touching to celebrate mass together in front of the tomb of the head of the apostles. Then in the same morning we had our audience with the Holy Father. It was an informal meeting for two full hours with him.He encouraged us to shot any question, to give comments, and even to criticize him during the session. It was very familial and lively, and Pope Francis was so cordial and open to us. To my surprise he knows full well our situation in the Philippines, especially with the present president! We also were able to greet him individually. That meeting set the tone for the whole ad limina visit—cordial and open exchange. We had visits to the different dicasteries. We were divided to the various dicasteries which we were interested to visit. Everyday we visited 3 or 4 dicasteries. The Cardinals and Archbishops who head the dicasteries were our dialogue partners.

During the week too we were able to schedule masses in the other major basilicas. On Wednesday afternoon we had mass in the Basilica of St Paul Outside of the Walls. That was the burial place of St. Paul, who was also martyred in Rome. On Friday we had the mass in St. John Lateran, which is the Cathedral Church of the Pope, and this morning in the Basilica of St. Mary Major, the main church dedicated to Mother Mary.

Another bonus of the ad limina visit is the rare bonding opportunity that we bishops have together during our meals, our trips, and our free moments.  Since we are all housed only in one place, at the Collegio Filipino where Filipino students who study in Rome stay, we bishops have a lot of time to share with each other, to joke together, and also to share our experiences and problems with one another. Not only is our bond with the universal church strengthened but also our bond with one another. We go back to our dioceses renewed and energized. We are indeed in a common mission of service in the Roman Catholic Church!

Prepare for the Elections

Election day – May 13--is a few days from now. Not only the COMELEC is to prepare for that big day, nor only the candidates. Every voter should also be prepared. What are they to prepare? Foremost of all they should prepare their own list of candidates. This is easier said than done. With so many candidates to choose from, and with so much propaganda and fake news flooding our media, it is not easy to make a proper choice. We need to sit down and take time to reflect and pray.

The voters not only should know the candidates, their track records and their programs, they are also to be subjected to proper criteria. Do they work for the common good? Are they guided by good principles in their life and in their public commitment? We cannot just rely on their pronouncements but on what they had done and worked for. The list made by credible lay leaders such as the People’s Choice Movement and the Power of Purple who have the means to study well the candidates and who have vetted them on good criteria can be a useful help to the voters.

With many candidates to vote for, it is important that voters should have a list with them when they go to the polls. It is so difficult to remember all the names one has chosen in the polling place when there is a lot of noise, when it is hot, when people are queuing up and are waiting. These can pressure the voters to hurry up. It is easy to forget and make mistakes unless one has a well-prepared list.

For us Christians, another preparation that is to be done is prayer. We always accompany with prayers important choices and activities that we do. The election is an important activity. We do it only once every three years. Although we have only one vote, that vote represents our choice for our city, our province and our country. Therefore, we pray over our votes during these days of preparation. Praying over our votes also helps us to choose well. If we pray over our vote, will we include in our list a thief, a dishonest person, or one who promotes killing? If we pray over our vote, will we allow our vote to be influenced by money, or much worse, sell it? We are poor and people have already robbed us of basic services in life, of our environment, of our jobs. Let them not rob us of our dignity. Our one vote is our dignity. It us not sell it.

Yes, it is important that we vote well. But this is not enough. Let each one too be a missionary. Let us help others, especially those who are undecided or who do not care, to vote well. A spiritual act of mercy is to instruct the ignorant and another is to counsel the confused. We can exercise these spiritual acts of mercy by helping people to vote well for the good of the country. We should always promote the good. Let us promote the good candidates for our country.

Broderick Pabillo

May 9, 2019

Fight for an Independent Senate

POWER is intoxicating. It is insatiable. Once one has it, one wants to have more of it. For this reason, power has to be controlled. This is especially true of power over people. There is then great wisdom that there should be checks and balances for the proper exercise of power in governance. In a democracy these checks and balances are institutionalized in the different branches of the government. Hence, we have the legislative, the executive and the judiciary which are supposed to be independent of each other and should check each other. We also have other institutions which scrutinize the exercise of power, like the press and the civil societies, and individual citizens who care for the common good.

Dictators do not want the checks and balances of power because they want total control. They do not want to be hampered in their exercise of power. This is why they tend to control the other institutions of governance either by buying them out, or by curtailing their activities through laws, by breaking their will through coercion and intimidation, or plainly throughelimination by killing them, by jailing them or by exile.

Is this not happening in our country now? The Lower House of Congress is in general subservient to the President who buys them out through favors and pork barrel allocations. The Supreme Court is now under the control of the President by ousting  the Chief Justice and in the process taming the other justices. Senator Delima is now two years in jail for unproven allegations. The Ombudsman and the Comelec Chairman are appointees of the present President. The military and the police are being wowed by increased salaries and political appointments of retired generals in civilian positions; business is being threatened by the controls of the bureaucracy; press freedom is threatened by spurious allegations and false news. Even the church and civil societies are fair game for vicious jokes and outright threats. In this time the Senate is still showing its independence. But for how long? This coming election is crucial. If we are able to elect independent minded people who are courageous and truthful in serving the country, we have a fair chance of preserving democracy in the land. If not, then we fall into de facto control of the President who is bent on exercising power without any control and who is very sensitive to criticisms.

The bishops of the CBCP had seen this already back in January. They came out with their pastoral letter on the May elections entitled: Seek the Common Good. It stated: “The year 2019 is not just an ordinary election year. The midterm election in May 13 is in itself already crucial. In our country today the checks and balances in the government are being undermined. So far the senate is the institution in the government that is holding out as our country is inching towards total control. It is very crucial therefore that we elect candidates who are principled, courageous, and who have the common good as their main concern and not their own political interests.” In this election then let us vote for candidates who can assure an independent senate.

Already bills on death penalty, on the lowering of the age of criminality to 12 years old, and on Constitutional Change have been passed by subservient Congress. It is the Senate which stop them from becoming laws of the land. Pork Barrel insertions were done by the Lower House and it is the Senate who called the attention of the nation to these insertions. The President is making a lot of international agreements with China behind the backs of the Filipinos. It is within the competence of the Senate to question these international deals. Where would we be if the President’s people and allies fill up the senate hall?

We need strong opposition to preserve our democratic space. We need a strong senate who can prevent the onrush of totalitarianism. Let us vote for an independent senate!