ALL persons, not just priests, are sacred. Ordination does not make a priest more sacred but confers on him some sacred powers, chief of which is to consecrate bread and wine into Christ’s body and blood. Like the rest of us, a priest is made holy by his deeds not by his title. We are what we do, not what we think.
Thus, because we are equally sacred and share the same rights as children of God, killing anybody, priest or otherwise, is a great moral wrong.
Experience also shows that unbridled greed, envy, anger, etc. cause people to commit murder. Angry husbands kill unfaithful wives and/or their lovers and vice-versa. Hurt siblings kill each other or their parents over inheritance issues. We know what drug lords kill for.
If it takes that much negativity to kill anybody, it stands to reason that it takes a lot more to kill a priest. Like, nobody kills a priest for his lousy sermons. Somebody’s rage must be going through the roof for him to settle an issue with a priest by killing him. In that context, Archbishop Socrates Villegas of Lingayen-Dagupan would have been wise to wait for the results of the investigation before crying persecution.
Moreover, the “evil spirits” bishop Broderick Pabillo wants driven out of Malacañang actually exist also in the Church and among the clergy. Aries Rufo’s book “Altar of Secrets” is not a work of fiction and yet is just a peek into the skeletons in the Church’s closet. They are the exceptions, but because they are flesh-and-blood humans not angels-incarnate there are pedophile, womanizing, and thieving priests.
In that context, “evil spirits” should be driven out where they exist, in Malacañang, in Church or elsewhere. Luther’s Protestant Reformation drove out “evil spirits” in the Church that sold indulgences. Yet, today why do you think Pope Francis is warning bishops and priests against commercializing sacraments and rituals? We know why and it’s the same reason there is a clamor for the Church to be taxed.
I like CBCP President Archbishop Romulo Valles’s wise refusal to politicize priest killings with just a brief statement of condemnation and call for a quick investigation.
His Eminence Luis Cardinal Tagle and Archbishop Jose Palma are also wise in being silent on the issue. I like to believe it comes from seeing the issue in context and as an opportunity for self-examination and discernment.
I don’t know what the president’s motives are but my motive for putting the issue in context is my love for the Church that I sincerely hope, in the spirit of fraternal correction, would use criticism not so much for outraged self-defense but for a humble reality-check on the state of the entire Church but especially of its clergy.