PRESIDENT-elect Rodrigo Duterte is pretty much in the news, accusing the Catholic Church of “hypocrisy.”
Cambridge dictionary defines hypocrisy as “pretending to be what you are not, or pretending to believe something that you do not.” Catholic British-Irish statesman Edmund Burke warned that “Hypocrisy can afford to be magnificent in its promises, for never intending to go beyond promise, it costs nothing.”
When Duterte visited Bacolod early this year, he paid a courtesy call to Bishop Vicente Navarra. He asked the Bishop for forgiveness for cussing the pope. Bishop Navarra replied that the issue has died down.
Well, not exactly. This week, the president-elect lambasted Navarra, the bishops, and the whole Catholic Church for that. “You sons of whores, aren’t you ashamed?” Then he popped a question, “You know the most hypocritical institution? The Catholic Church.”
Duterte also announced on social media late last year that he will donate P1,000 to Caritas Davao for every swear word he says in his two-hour meeting with Bishop George Rimando and Davao Archbishop Romulo Valles, together with Monsignor Paul Cuison and his executive assistant, Bong Go.
So is he paying his dues to Caritas Davao? His IOUs must be mounting, the way he pepper his sentences with “p_tang ina.” Because if he’s reneging on his pledge, Duterte is just projecting a contrite image without the substance. So who’s the hypocrite?
So what is he trying to do now? Destroy the Philippine Catholic Church? Or the universal church for that matter?
There’s that apocryphal story about Napoleon Bonaparte who supposedly told a Cardinal that, if he so desired, he could destroy the Catholic Church in an instant. The Cardinal laughed and replied, “We, the clergy, with our sins and stupidity have been trying to destroy the Church for 1,800 years. What makes you think you can do better?”
Most Catholics I know have spiritually matured. They think of their clergy who are just as sinful as the rest of us. As the New Testament emphasized, “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” Romans 3:23-26.
However, John 8:7 said, “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.” Certainly not Pope Francis who admitted his failings. As Cardinal Mario Bergoglio said after he accepted his election to the papacy: “I am a sinner, but I trust in the infinite mercy and patience of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
The Catholic Church is hypocritical? St. Pope John Paul II confessed in behalf of the whole Catholic Church by making a sweeping apology for 2,000 years of violence, persecution, and blunders by seeking forgiveness for sins committed against Jews, Muslims, heretics, women, Gypsies and native peoples.
Now you see popes reaching out to other faith communities. Following through his call for promoting a culture of encounter, Pope Francis welcomed this week Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb, the grand imam of Al-Azhar and the highest religious authority of the Sunni Muslims to the Vatican.
Can anyone then call the Catholic Church with all these efforts at reconciliation and healing as hypocrites?
(bqsanc@yahoo.com)